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GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 
AROUND  THE  WORLD 


IGRA,  [NDIA. 

The  Taj    Mahal    from   the  Gateway. 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 
AROUND  THE  WORLD 


BY 
HOWARD  S.  F.  RANDOLPH 


Illustrated  with  Photographs 
Taken  by  the  Author 


THE 

STANHOPE-DODGE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

Larchmont,  New  York 

1913 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
STANHOPE-DODGE  COMPANY 


J.  F.  TAPLEY  CO. 
HEW  YORK 


SJfl V.c^^\^„„>X^^^     

This  little  book  is  an  attempt  to  tell  — 
briefly  and  informally  —  my  impressions  of 
some  of  the  places  I  visited,  and  a  few  of  my 
experiences.  It  is  written  for  my  friends, 
many  of  whom  have  urged  me  to  give  them 
more  than  a  passing  account  of  what  I  saw 
and  did.  My  trip  zvas  in  no  way  out  of  the 
ordinary  —  except  in  a  few  minor  instances  — 
and  I  make  pretensions  neither  to  great 
knowledge  of  the  countries  I  visited,  nor  to 
any  information  that  cannot  be  found  more 
accurately  and  more  fully  given  in  other  travel 
books.  It  is,  in  other  words,  just  a  personal 
account  of  the  pleasures  I  experienced,  and 
which  I  want  you  to  enjoy  with  me. 


-^ 


aUprtetmatf,  1313 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The  United  States  i 

II    Across  the  Pacific     ....  14 

III  Japan  and  Korea 19 

IV  China 46 

V    Manila 61 

VI     Singapore  and  Java    ....  66 

VII     From  Singapore  to  Calcutta   .  75 

VIII     India 79 

IX    Ceylon 100 

X    Egypt 106 

XI     Palestine  and  Syria        .     .      .110 

XII    Constantinople  and  Greece     .  121 

XIII     Italy  and  Sicily 128 

Itinerary 134 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Taj  Mahal Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Acoma 4 

The    Petrified    Forests 6 

Ruins  of  the  Old  Mission,  San  Juan  Capistrano  10 

The    Yosemite    Falls 12 

A  Room  in  a  Japanese  House 24 

The  Principal  Street,  Ikao 28 

The  Dai-butsu,  Kamakura     ...     .1 

A  Diver,   Enoshima t-  ...  30 

Waiting    for    the    Emperors    Funeral  J 

The    "Banqueting   Hall,"    Seoul 44 


,} 


46 


.     48 


A  Street  Scene,  Mukden 

Residence  of  the  American  Consul,  Mukden 

A   Manchu 

The  Avenue  of  Animals  at  the  Ming  Tombs, 

Nankow 

The  Fallen  Porker,  Mukden 

The  Temple  of  Heaven,  Peking     .     .     . 

A  Bronze  Lion  in  the  Llama  Temple,  Peking. 

At  a  Railway  Station,  Peking 50 

The  Great  Wall  of  China 52 

Street    Scenes,    Manila 62 


Washing  Clothes,  Java 

At  an  Inland  Station,  Java 

Rice  Terraces,  Java 

The  Fighting-Cocks  of  the  Sultan  of  Djoja- 
karta        


68 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


76 


FACING 
PAGE 

Boro-boedoer,    Java      .  72 

A  Water  Carrier,  Penang 

Workmen,    Singapore   .     . 

A  Little  Chinaman,  Penang 

"Baksheesh,"  Penang    .      . 

Temples  and  Shrines  at  the  Base  of  the  Shwe- 

Dagon  Pagoda,  Rangoon 78 

The  Burning  Ghat,  Benares 82 

The  Tomb  of  Ttimad-ud-daulah,  Agra     .     . 

A  Glimpse  of  the  Taj 

Marble  Screen 'in  the  Tomb  of  Salim  Chishti 
Tomb   of    Salim    Chishti,    Fatehpur-Sikri 
The  ^Saman  Burg,"  Agra     .     . 
Detail  of  the  Carving  on  the  Taj 
Entrance*  td  the  "Saman  Burg" 
The   Pearl   Mosque,   Agra     .     . 

The  Kutab'  Minar,   Delhi      . 88 

Praying  to  a  Lingham,  Tanjore 94 

"The  Tank  of  the  Golden  Lilies,"  Madura  \  ^ 

A  Banyan  Tree,  Colombo J 


84 


86 


A  Dagoba,  Anurhadhapura 


.}• 


A   "Guardian    Stone,"   Anurhadhapura  J 

Abou-Simbel 108 

A  Street  Scene,  Jerusalem 112 

The  Courtyard  of  an  Old  House,  Bethlehem   .  114 

An  Old  Archway,   Damascus 118 

"Selamlik."    The    Sultan,    Mohammed   V,   Con- 
stantinople       122 

In  the  Colonnade  of  the  Parthenon,  Athens     .  124 
"Death"— in  the  Ruins  of  the  Cathedral,  Mes- 
sina*      130 


Glimpses  of  the  Unusual 

Around  the  World 

Chapter  I 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

A  trip  around  the  world  —  it  seems  like  a 
stupendous  undertaking  before  starting  out. 
On  returning  it  seems  but  a  simple  jaunt  after 
all,  with  no  cause  to  fuss  and  fume  about  it. 

"  Which  place  did  you  like  best  ?  "  is  the 
question  immediately  flung  at  you  by  every- 
one you  meet,  with  startling  unanimity. 
Then  you  must  explain  that  each  country  has 
its  own  attraction,  its  own  peculiarities;  just 
as  "  there  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another 
glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the 
stars,"  so  each  country  has  its  own  glory,  and 
comparison  is  impossible.  This  little  book  is 
an  attempt  to  show  something  of  the  attrac- 
tions of  each  of  these  countries,  and  to  give 
a  few  glimpses  of  the  unusual  things  encoun- 
tered. 

The  trip  started  calmly  enough,  with  visits 
to  friends  in  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Chi- 


2      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

cago.  Denver  —  after  Chicago  —  seemed  the 
essence  of  all  that  was  clean  and  quiet.  Its 
public  and  private  buildings  are  unusually 
beautiful,  even  though  they  have  a  "  Wel- 
come "  arch  that  is  about  as  sincere  as  a  door- 
mat with  the  same  inscription.  At  Colorado 
Springs  it  snowed  for  three  hours  —  though 
it  was  the  middle  of  June.  The  "  Garden  of 
the  Gods  "  is  beautiful,  but  much  over-praised, 
and  the  ascent  of  Pikes  Peak  at  five  dollars 
a  head  is  rather  steep.  Instead  I  went  up  to 
Cripple  Creek,  lured  on  by  a  circular  that  said 
"  any  attempt  to  reproduce  in  words  the  glory 
of  that  scene  must  be  tawdry  vulgarity,"  and 
then  went  on  to  prove  the  statement.  Cripple 
Creek  itself  is  a  squalid  shanty-town,  but  has 
a  magnificent  and  extensive  view  of  the 
Rockies.  At  quaint  Albuquerque  an  artist 
spoke  of  Acoma,  and  persuaded  me  to  visit  it. 
Acoma  is  an  Indian  pueblo  about  eighteen 
miles  from  Laguna,  a  station  beyond  Albuquer- 
que on  the  Santa  Fe.  Laguna  itself  is  an 
Indian  pueblo,  and  the  only  room  to  be  had 
there  is  at  a  Mr.  Marmon's,  one  of  the  few 
white  men  of  the  town.  The  one  train  stop- 
ping here  arrived  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
and  at  that  hour  Mr.  Marmon  was  with  diffi- 
culty aroused.  He  provides  a  room  only  — 
for  meals  one  goes  to  an  old  freight  car  on  a 
switch,  where  an  ex-waiter  serves  canned  but- 
ter, canned  milk  and  other  delectables. 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


Marmon  supplied  a  team  and  a  driver  —  an 
Indian,  who  proved  at  first  rather  uncommuni- 
cative. We  drove  directly  over  the  prairie, 
with  only  the  scantiest  trace  of  a  road.  The 
wonderful  rock  formations  excelled  those  of 
the  "  Garden  of  the  Gods  "  in  every  way  ex- 
cept color,  for  here  the  rocks  were  white  and 
not  red. 

Before  reaching  Acoma  we  passed  the  "  En- 
chanted Mesa" — an  oval-shaped  rock  of 
enormous  size,  standing  alone  on  the  plain  — 
with  sheer  precipitous  sides  four  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high.  On  this  mesa  the  pueblo  of 
Acoma  was  once  supposed  to  have  been  sit- 
uated. The  tradition  is  that  there  was  but 
a  single  trail  leading  to  the  top,  and  that  the 
falling  of  a  large  mass  of  rock  one  day  made 
it  impassable.  All  the  inhabitants  were  at 
work  in  the  fields  below,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  old  women.  They  could  not  be  rescued, 
and  have  haunted  the  mesa  ever  since. 
From  this  it  gets  its  name,  for  the  word  trans- 
lated "  enchanted "  would  be  more  properly 
rendered  "  haunted."  Sturgis  calls  it  the 
grandest  rock  in  America:  it  is  certainly  one 
of  the  most  impressive. 

Acoma  was  plainly  visible  from  the  "  En- 
chanted Mesa,"  though  three  miles  away;  but 
it  was  some  time  before  the  outlines  of  the 
adobe  buildings  at  the  top  of  the  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  foot  mesa  could  be  discerned. 


4      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

Here  a  small  Indian  boy  consented  to  act  as 
guide.  His  only  English  consisted  of  the 
words  "  Gimme-mun,"  and  this  he  was 
promptly  christened.  He  led  the  way  up  a 
steep  sandy  trail,  with  most  curious  rock  for- 
mations on  either  side.  At  the  base  we 
passed  a  natural  corral  with  some  Indians  at 
work,  who  strenuously  objected  to  being 
photographed.  In  some  places  the  ascent  was 
difficult,  as  the  trail  led  over  the  face  of  the 
rock  with  but  tiny  ledges  cut  in  for  the  feet. 
Another  trail  has  recently  been  made  by 
which  horses  can  make  the  ascent. 

The  top  of  the  mesa  was  surprisingly  level. 
Near  by  stands  the  cathedral,  with  walls  sixty 
feet  high  and  ten  feet  thick.  Every  particle 
of  the  material  for  this  building  had  to  be 
brought  up  from  the  plains  below,  and  it  took 
many  years  to  build  it.  The  dwellings,  all  of 
adobe,  were  two  or  three  stories  high,  the  en- 
trance being  usually  on  the  second  floor, 
reached  by  a  ladder.  On  the  exterior  walls 
hung  meat  and  herbs. 

A  host  of  young  girls  and  children  brought 
out  specimens  of  their  handiwork  for  sale  — 
mostly  gaudily  painted  earthen  dishes  of 
crude  pattern.  As  a  bribe  to  be  allowed  to 
take  photographs  I  bought  several  of  these, 
gave  some  cookies  to  the  children,  and  took 
out  my  camera  —  only  to  find  on  looking  up 
that  I  was  absolutely  alone!     But  I  photo- 


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THE  UNITED  STATES 


graphed  the  buildings  until  stopped  by  an  old 
woman  who  asked  me  if  I  had  a  permit. 
She  said  that  one  was  absolutely  necessary, 
that  I  could  procure  it  from  her,  and  finally 
brought  the  price  down  to  seventy-five  cents. 
Rather  than  continue  parleying,  I  paid  her  the 
money,  and  took  several  more  pictures.  On 
a  rock  in  the  distance  I  spied  two  Indians  ap- 
proaching, and  knew  instinctively  that  they 
wanted  to  speak  to  me.  As  they  came  nearer 
I  found  that  my  suspicions  were  correct.  Im- 
mediately one  of  them  —  who  later  said  that 
he  had  been  a  student  at  Carlisle  —  assumed 
an  expression  of  great  ferocity,  and  asked  if 
I  had  a  permit  to  take  photographs.  I  told 
him  of  the  incident  with  the  Indian  woman, 
but  asked  what  they  cost  and  where  they 
could  be  procured.  He  answered  that  they 
cost  two  dollars,  and  could  be  obtained  from 
the  "  Guv'nor,"  indicating  the  other  man. 
On  discovering  that  he  was  the  "  Guv'nor  "  I 
treated  him  with  great  deference,  to  mollify 
him  as  much  as  possible.  They  seemed  to  be 
puzzled  by  the  fact  that  I  had  paid  a  woman 
for  the  privilege,  but  "  Gimme-mun "  evi- 
dently corroborated  my  statement,  and  finally 
they  agreed  that  if  I  paid  one  dollar  and  a 
quarter  more  it  would  be  all  right.  An  old 
man  led  me  to  his  house  to  get  the  change. 
The  room  was  unusually  large,  about  twenty- 
five  by  forty  feet.     A  very  old  Indian  woman 


6      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

offered  a  chair,  which,  with  a  table  covered 
with  a  piece  of  oilcloth,  a  few  dishes,  and  a 
bed  in  a  distant  corner  of  the  room  completed 
the  furniture.  Everything  was  immaculately 
clean. 

Having  received  my  change,  I  asked  if  I 
could  continue  photographing.  But  as  I  had 
committed  a  grave  crime  by  taking  a  pic- 
ture without  a  permit  in  the  first  place,  they 
determined  that  I  must  expiate  by  paying  an- 
other dollar  before  taking  more  photographs. 
Having  all  I  wanted,  I  refused,  and  was  led 
politely  to  the  top  of  the  trail,  and  dismissed 
with  a  "good-by."  Surely  we  do  not  have 
to  leave  our  own  country  to  experience  all  the 
thrills  of  foreign  travel,  including  even  the 
joy  of  "  baksheesh  "  and  "  cumshaw." 

Adamana  is  said  to  have  been  named  after 
the  first  settler  and  his  wife.  From  here  you 
drive  over  the  desert  to  the  Petrified  Forests. 
These  "  forests  "  are  various  portions  of  the 
neighboring  plain  on  which  the  petrified  re- 
mains of  primeval  forests  are  found.  Some 
of  the  trees  lie  as  they  fell;  one  has  a  gully 
underneath  it,  forming  thereby  a  natural 
bridge;  but  most  of  the  trees  have  broken 
into  innumerable  small  pieces.  The  ground 
is  strewn  with  these  fragments,  with  colors 
of  remarkable  brilliancy,  ranging  from  red, 
yellow  and  brown  to  blue  and  gray. 

The  "  hotel "  was  impossible ;  so  the  trim 


9 


£&»4r 


THE  PETRIFIED  FORESTS,  ARIZONA. 

An  Old  Log. 

The  "Natural  Bridge." 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


little  Fred  Harvey  hotel  at  Winslow  seemed 
especially  inviting.  On  the  way  up  to  the 
Grand  Canyon  the  next  day  it  was  interest- 
ing to  watch  the  numerous  rabbits  and  prairie 
dogs  so  abundant  in  this  section. 

The  "  El  Tovar  "  at  the  Grand  Canyon  is 
another  Fred  Harvey  hotel,  well  adapted  to 
its  surroundings.  It  stands  on  the  brink  of 
the  Canyon,  and  commands  a  wonderful  view. 
Again  description  would  be  "  tawdry  vul- 
garity " :  2l  vast  chasm  thirteen  miles  wide 
and  hundreds  of  miles  long,  lined  with  mighty 
cliffs  and  towering  peaks  of  fantastic  shapes 
and  magnificent  coloring.  Reds,  yellows, 
grays  and  buffs  predominated  in  myriad  com- 
binations. It  is  a  marvelous  sight:  truly 
awful,  magnificent,  and  wonderful;  but  there 
was  a  lack  to  me  —  or  in  me  —  of  something 
that  made  it  appealing.  But  I  find  very  few 
who  share  this  feeling  with  me. 

Four  days  gave  many  variations  of  early 
morning  and  late  afternoon  light.  The  Bright 
Angel  trail  down  to  the  river  is  seven  miles 
long  and  descends  in  that  distance  nearly  four 
thousand  five  hundred  feet.  A  large  part  of 
the  trail  is  on  a  narrow  ledge  less  than  three 
feet  wide,  with  an  unsympathetic  cliff  on  one 
side  and  a  yawning  abyss  on  the  other.  The 
donkeys,  trained  to  keep  near  the  edge  when 
ladened  with  goods,  seem  to  delight  in  giving 
their  passengers  heart-failure.     The  Colorado 


8      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

at  the  foot  of  the  trail  is  a  dirty  brown  river 
of  terrific  current.  On  reaching  the  top  in 
the  late  afternoon  I  breathed  a  fervent 
"  Never  again."  A  good  walker,  equal  to  the 
distance  and  the  steep  climb,  would  not  mind 
the  trip  at  all,  but  from  the  back  of  a  donkey 
it  is  certainly  frightful. 

One's  first  impression  of  California  —  in 
July,  at  any  rate  —  is  of  sand  and  burnt 
brown  grass.  Bleakness  and  brownness 
everywhere.  The  weather  was  downcast  and 
forbidding,  and  the  temperature  varied  ap- 
pallingly. Hot  July  weather  in  Los  Angeles 
was  succeeded  by  welcome  grate  fires  in  Santa 
Barbara,  intense  heat  in  Merced  Valley,  and 
cold  blustering  winds  in  San  Francisco.  In 
San  Diego  only  did  I  enjoy  weather  comfort 
—  here  climate  and  temperature  were  perfect. 

The  Calif ornians  who  write  the  various  ad- 
vertisements of  all  kinds  are  the  happiest  liars 
I  have  ever  encountered.  The  use  of  the  com- 
parative is  unknown  in  description  —  every- 
thing is  in  the  superlative,  regardless  of  truth 
and  probability.  Our  own  Eastern  ad  writers 
are  fairly  inventive,  but  these  "  Native  Sons  " 
make   them    look   like    a   kindergarten    class. 

Everything  is  the  est  in  the  world:  the 

biggest,  the  oldest,  the  best,  or  the  highest; 
so  that  you  move  along  in  a  rarefied  atmos- 
phere of  glory  until  you  trip  on  some  simple 


THE  UNITED  STATES  9 

fact  and  come  plunging  back  to  Mother 
Earth. 

A  passing  mention  only  can  be  made  of  the 
various  places  visited  in  my  two  weeks  in 
Southern  California.     Tabulated,  they  were: 

—  Santa  Barbara,  with  its  lovely  old  mission ; 
Long  Beach  —  a  second  Coney  Island,  as  are 
all  the  beaches  near  Los  Angeles;   Catalina 

—  with  its  glass  bottom  boats  and  submarine 
gardens  —  great  forests  of  gorgeous  iodine 
kelp  waving  in  the  watery  breeze,  with  bril- 
liantly colored  fishes  taking  the  place  of  birds ; 
San  Diego  —  with  its  beautiful  harbor  and 
bright  future ;  Tia  Juana  — "  Aunt  Jane,"  a 
straggling  village  just  over  the  border  in  Mex- 
ico; Pasadena  —  a  Ladies'  Home  Journal 
ideal  village  of  doll  houses  and  preciseness; 
Venice  —  another  beach,  with  an  aquarium 
containing  the  uncanniest  water  animals 
imaginable :  and  the  missions  of  San  Luis  Rey 
and  San  Juan  Capistrano. 

These  old  missions  are  fascinating.  San 
Juan  Capistrano  charmed  me  most  —  old,  fall- 
ing into  decay,  it  kindles  as  many  memories  as 
a  pressed  rose.  It  breathes  of  dignity,  of  hos- 
pitality, of  purity,  of  calmness  and  devotion, 
of  high  ideals  and  gallant  chivalry. 

There  is  little  of  it  left :  the  ruins  of  a  large 
chapel,  which  fell  during  an  earthquake  about 
a  century  ago ;  four  arches  with  the  old  bells ; 


io      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

a  white  arcade  on  the  exterior;  and  a  large 
patio  or  court,  filled  with  the  remnants  of  an 
old  garden,  and  surrounded  by  a  vine-clad 
arcade  —  is  about  all  that  there  is  to  be  seen. 

I  wandered  around  the  buildings  for  a 
while,  and  then  entered  the  patio  through  an 
archway  covered  with  climbing  roses.  There 
I  found  a  man  painting. 

"  This  is  an  ideal  spot,  isn't  it?  "  I  asked. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  with  a  laugh,  "  but  this 
painting  isn't." 

He  proved  to  be  the  resident  priest,  and  was 
as  interesting  as  the  buildings  among  which  he 
worked.  He  took  me  to  the  small  chapel  and 
through  other  buildings  of  the  mission. 
Everything  was  falling  into  decay:  but  the 
climbing  vines  and  roses  —  the  very  unkempt- 
ness,  breathed  a  spirit  of  peace  and  calmness 
seldom  found  in  America,  and  which  no 
restoration  could  hope  to  preserve. 

The  Glenwood  Mission  Inn  at  Riverside  is 
modeled  after  these  old  missions,  copying 
something  from  each,  and  partaking  of  the 
spirit  of  all.  It  is  unique.  The  atmosphere 
of  the  old  missions  is  certainly  preserved, 
though  modified  and  modernized.  It  must 
approach  the  dream  of  the  old  Fathers  them- 
selves. It  is  furnished  with  exquisite  taste, 
and  every  detail  is  carefully  carried  out  —  for 
instance,  over  the  desk  runs  the  legend, 


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SAN  JUAN  CAPISTRANO,  CALIFORNIA. 
Ruins  of  the  Old  Mission. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  n 

"Ye  canna  expect  to  be  baith  grand  and  comfortable," 

while  over  the  bell-boys'  seat  is, 

"  Rest  is  the  sweet  sauce  after  labor." 

In  the  garden  are  exquisite  semi-tropical 
plants  and  trees,  with  a  few  tame  parrots 
strutting  around.  A  loggia  contains  a  won- 
derful collection  of  old  and  historic  bells. 

But  the  chief  glory  of  the  house  is  the 
music  room.  Built  like  a  chapel,  with  a 
fascinating  cloistered  walk  around  it,  with 
carved  Gothic  pews,  and  priceless  decorations 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  the  essence 
of  good  taste  and  harmoniousness.  It  was 
dusk  as  I  entered.  Someone  was  playing 
"  Traumerei."  The  organ  stopped,  but  from 
a  high  distant  bell  tower  came  the  same  haunt- 
ing refrain. 

At  Redlands  an  old  driver  asked  —  apropos 
of  my  admiration  of  the  pepper  trees  —  if  I 
were  a  New  Yorker.  I  admitted  it,  but  could 
not  see  the  connection  between  the  two  sub- 
jects,; so  asked  why  he  thought  so. 

"  Oh,"  he  said  laconically,  "  all  New  York- 
ers like  the  pepper  trees." 

Surely  we  are  not  alone  in  this  apprecia- 
tion! 

At  Merced  it  was  necessary  to  change  cars, 
and  wait  two  hours  with  the  mercury  at  109  °. 


12      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

On  the  train  to  El  Portal  it  reached  1150! 
The  train  followed  the  course  of  the  Merced 
River,  which  is  in  reality  a  good-sized  brook, 
but  as  it  was  the  first  river  I  had  seen  in  Cali- 
fornia that  had  any  water  in  it  at  all  I  made 
no  complaint. 

The  Yosemite  has  all  the  charm  and  at- 
traction which  the  Grand  Canyon  lacked. 
Though  not  the  torrents  they  were  in  May, 
the  waterfalls  were  still  beautiful,  and  the 
views  of  El  Capitan  and  the  Half  Dome  were 
magnificent.  No,  even  the  Enchanted  Mesa, 
beautiful  as  it  is,  cannot  rival  these  wonder- 
ful rocks. 

Another  donkey-back  excursion  led  past  the 
Vernal  and  ■  Nevada  Falls  to  Glacier  Point, 
with  its  marvelous  view.  Three  thousand 
feet  directly  below  us  was  Camp  Curry,  and 
we  were  surprised  to  see  it  in  flames.  From 
our  lofty  seat  we  had  an  excellent  view  of  the 
efforts  to  extinguish  the  fire.  Over  seventy- 
five  tents  were  burned,  and  much  other  dam- 
age done. 

A  day's  coaching  over  the  dustiest  road 
imaginable  brought  us  to  Wawona,  and  from 
here  we  drove  to  the  Big  Trees.  The  oldest 
/and  tallest  tree  —  the  "  Grizzly  Giant  " —  is 
said  to  be  eight  thousand  years  old,  though 
John  Muir  doubts  if  any  of  the  trees  are  over 
five  thousand  years.  It  is  three  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  feet  tall,  and  one  hundred  and 


THE  YOSEMITE,  CALIFORNIA. 
The  Yosemite  Falls. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  13 

four  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base.  But 
these  trees,  while  wonderfully  majestic,  are 
so  well  proportioned,  and  so  surrounded  by 
other  vast  trees,  that  it  is  absolutely  im- 
possible to  get  any  real  conception  of  their 
enormous  size. 

Though  tired  by  our  trip  of  the  day  be- 
fore, it  was  necessary  for  us  to  take  the  stage 
for  eleven  hours,  covering  over  fifty  miles,  to 
reach  El  Portal  and  the  sleeper  to  San  Fran- 
cisco.    Never  was  a  berth  so  comfortable. 

Four  days  in  San  Francisco  gave  but  little 
time  for  sight-seeing,  as  it  was  necessary  to 
make  final  preparations  for  sailing.  The  trip 
up  Mt.  Tamaplais  was  interesting,  but  not  as 
much  so  as  the  ruins  of  the  old  city  hall,  about 
the  only  reminder  of  the  earthquake  left  stand- 
ing. 

California  has  much  that  is  beautiful,  for 
which  superlatives  are  needed.  But  let  us 
hope  that  these  "  Native  Sons  "  will  learn  to 
discriminate. 


Chapter  II 
ACROSS  THE  PACIFIC 

The  six  days  on  the  "Korea"  from  San 
Francisco  to  Honolulu  passed  very  quickly. 
There  was  much  that  was  different  from  an 
Atlantic  liner  —  the  waiters,  for  instance,  were 
all  Chinese,  and  waited  on  the  table  in  blue 
or  white  pa  jama-like  suits,  while  the  men  who 
wished  to  gamble  did  so  playing  fan-tan  with 
the  Chinese  of  the  steerage. 

Among  those  whom  later  I  grew  to  know 
better  were  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  George  M. 
Rowland,  missionaries  in  Sapporo,  Japan,  and 
Mrs.  Keator  and  her  family,  of  Philadelphia, 
also  making  a  trip  around  the  world. 

The  Hawaiian  Islands  have  been  so  ex- 
tolled for  their  even  climate  that  it  was  a  real 
shock  to  find  the  heat  very  intense.  Later,  of 
course,  I  heard  that  it  was  an  unprecedented 
summer ! 

August  is  not  the  best  month  to  visit  Hono- 
lulu, for,  aside  from  the  heat,  few  of  the 
flowers  and  trees  are  in  bloom ;  but  enough 
remained  to  indicate  the  variety  and  attrac- 
tion of  these  tropical  plants.  Large  Royal 
Poinciana  trees,  a  mass  of  scarlet  blossoms, 
14 


ACROSS  THE  PACIFIC  15 

formed  one  of  the  landscape's  most  striking 
features. 

Honolulu  itself  is  not  a  particularly  beauti- 
ful city,  but  its  suburbs  are  delightful. 
Waikiki,  about  three  miles  out,  is  an  attrac- 
tive residence  section  on  the  beach,  with 
Diamond  Head,  a  picturesque  mountain,  in  the 
background.  This  beach  is  very  famous,  and 
is  almost  ideal.  The  incline  is  so  gradual  that 
one  can  walk  out  into  the  water  for  a  long 
distance  —  half  a  mile  or  over.  This  un- 
usual feature  is  the  cause  of  the  long,  high, 
and  regular  breakers  which  enable  the  surf 
board  to  be  used  successfully.  This  surf 
board  riding  is  fascinating  to  watch,  and  must 
be  wonderfully  exciting  —  though  few  of 
the  passing  tourists  are  able  to  master  it. 
The  swimmers  have  a  board  about  a  foot  and 
a  half  wide  and  six  to  eight  feet  long,  rounded 
at  one  end,  that  they  push  ahead  of  them  far 
out  to  sea.  They  turn,  and  wait  for  a  large 
breaker.  As  it  draws  near  they  swim  vio- 
lently, and  if  they  are  successful  are  pushed 
by  the  wave  swiftly  up  to  the  beach  without 
further  effort.  Great  dexterity  is  shown  in 
balancing ;  some  have  all  they  can  do  to  stand 
upright  on  the  board,  while  experts  turn 
somersaults,  stand  two  on  a  board,  or  even 
carry  a  boy  on  their  shoulders. 

A  tenderfoot  can  get  something  of  the 
thrill  of  this  experience  by  taking  a  ride  in 


16      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

a  surf-boat  with  five  or  six  other  passengers, 
manned  by  two  husky  kanakas.  As  the  wave 
approaches  everyone  must  paddle  vigorously, 
and  if  you  are  lucky  enough  to  be  caught  by 
the  wave,  the  resultant  ride  is  certainly  ex- 
hilarating. The  beach  would  be  absolutely 
ideal  for  swimming,  were  it  not  for  the  coral, 
which  is  very  abundant  and  extremely  sharp. 

At  Waikiki  is  the  aquarium,  with  an  eye- 
opening  display  of  tropical  fish.  One  is  con- 
stantly reminded  of  the  Irishman's  first  view 
of  the  giraffe  — "  Begorry,  there  ain't  no  such 
animal.,, 

The  Hawaiian  language  is  unusually  musi- 
cal. Every  vowel  ends  a  syllable,  and  every 
syllable  is  pronounced.  The  alphabet  has  only 
twelve  letters,  but  its  variety  does  not  seem 
to  be  curtailed  thereby.  Some  of  the  names 
strike  confusion  to  our  palates  at  first  —  such 
as  Nuuanu  Avenue  and  a  fish  at  the  aquarium 
called  the  "  Uu  " —  pronounced  like  the  note 
of  a  cuckoo ! 

The  most  wonderful  feature  of  the  islands 
is  the  volcano  of  Mauna  Loa.  It  has  two 
craters;  one  of  which,  Kilauea,  is  always  ac- 
tive. A  night  trip  on  a  tiny  boat  from 
Honolulu  to  Hilo,  on  the  island  of  Hawaii, 
followed  by  a  thirty-mile  auto  trip  on  a  good 
road  through  luxurious  tropical  jungles,  brings 
you  to  the  "  Volcano  House/'  The  crater  of 
Kilauea  lies  before  you  —  a  vast  expanse  of 


ACROSS  THE  PACIFIC  17 

dried  lava  eight  miles  in  circumference,  and 
sunk  six  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
surrounding  ground.  In  its  time  this  whole 
area  was  a  sea  of  molten  lava,  but  now  the 
active  part  is  confined  to  a  huge  hole,  seven 
miles  from  the  hotel,  called  by  the  natives 
"  Halemaumau  " — "  The  House  of  Everlast- 
ing Fire."  From  the  hotel  this  reminds  one 
of  the  guiding  cloud  of  the  Jews  in  the  Wil- 
derness —  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar 
of  fire  by  night. 

Standing  on  the  brink  of  Halemaumau  after 
nightfall,  after  the  dense  smoke  becomes  in- 
visible —  the  impression  of  the  lake  of  fire  is 
fascinating  —  almost  hypnotizing.  It  is  a 
huge  caldron  of  molten  lava,  splashing,  hiss- 
ing, always  angry,  incessantly  moving,  with 
here  a  giant  fountain  of  golden  lava,  and 
there  a  towering  black  island  beaten  on  all 
sides  until  it  cracks.  But  description  can 
give  little  idea  of  it.  Seething,  boiling,  spout- 
ing, snarling,  it  is  always  looking  for  a  way  of 
escape  like  a  caged  lion.  It  is  hell  incarnate. 
But  with  all  its  mighty  power,  its  terrible  feroc- 
ity, its  cruelty  and  hunger  —  it  is  neverthe- 
less sublimely  beautiful.  The  lava  rises  some- 
times to  within  fifty  feet  of  the  surface,  though 
when  I  was  there  it  was  about  four  hundred 
feet  below. 

The  voyage  from  Honolulu  to  Yokohama 
was    uneventful.     The    boat,     the    " Shiny 0 


18      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

Maru/'  was  a  Japanese  one,  and  was  com- 
fortable and  well  managed.  The  voyage 
usually  takes  ten  days,  and  is  so  scheduled, 
but  we  fortunately  made  it  in  nine,  not  count- 
ing August  thirteenth,  which  was  dropped  in 
crossing  the  date  line. 


Chapter  III 

JAPAN  AND  KOREA 

The  "  Shiny o  Maru"  arrived  in  Yokohama 
on  a  boiling  August  day.  The  part  of  town 
first  seen  is  far  from  attractive,  though  of 
course  there  is  much  to  interest  a  new-comer 
in  the  appearance  of  houses  and  people.  A 
jinrikisha  ride  through  Theater  Street  in  the 
evening  gave  a  typical  Japanese  picture. 
Here  were  innumerable  Japanese,  the  men 
wearing  a  long  plain  kimono  and  wooden  san- 
dals, often  with  an  American  straw  hat, 
and  sometimes  carrying  a  cane.  The  women, 
with  their  hair  elaborately  dressed,  also  wore 
long  kimonos,  sometimes  floral,  but  more  often 
plain,  with  beautiful  obis  or  sashes.  The 
street  is  wide  and  is  lined  with  theaters  and 
shops  of  all  kinds.  Above  the  shops  hang 
gaudily  painted  signs  with  large  Japanese 
characters.  The  shuffle  of  innumerable 
wooden  clogs  on  a  hard  dirt  road  produces 
a  sound  quite  distinct  from  any  other,  and 
impossible  to  describe.  It  gives  the  final 
realization  to  the  fact  that  you  are  in  a 
foreign  country. 

The  Rowlands  asked  me  to  go  with  them  the 
next  day  to  Karuizawa  —  I  did  not  need  much 
19 


20      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

persuasion.  Karuizawa  is  a  little  resort 
where  many  of  the  missionaries  go  for  the 
summer,  on  account  of  its  cool  climate. 
Near  it  is  the  active  volcano  of  Asama-yama 

—  of  whose  smoking  top  I  caught  but  one 
glimpse;  so  cloudy  was  it  during  my  stay. 
Here  I  met  many  of  the  missionaries,  espe- 
cially at  a  large  Baptist  picnic  attended  by 
one  hundred  Baptists  in  all. 

For  several  years  I  had  been  correspond- 
ing with  a  Japanese  boy  named  Toshio 
Tanaka,  who  lived  at  Maebashi,  not  far  from 
Karuizawa.  He  had  often  asked  me  to  visit 
him,  and  now  sent  another  invitation,  which 

—  not  without  misgivings  —  I  decided  to  ac- 
cept. He  was  not  at  the  station  when  I  ar- 
rived, for  he  had  been  out  on  the  arrival  of 
my  telegram,  but  his  family  sent  a  servant  to 
meet  me.  Through  an  interpreter  he  told  me 
I  was  to  wait,  and  soon  Toshio  came  rushing 
up  on  his  bicycle,  panting  and  out  of  breath, 
his  kimono  flapping  behind  him.  At  first  we 
had  a  little  difficulty  in  understanding  each 
other,  but  we  were  soon  ensconced  in 
jinrikishas  and  on  our  way  to  a  Japanese 
hotel.  Maebashi  is  a  real  Japanese  city  — 
Karuizawa  and  Yokohama  are  largely  inhab- 
ited by  foreigners.  But  at  Maebashi  a  for- 
eigner is  still  something  of  a  curiosity.  The 
houses  were  of  one  or  two  stories  for  the  most 
part,   and  the   roofs   were  tiled.     The   main 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  21 

streets  —  on  one  of  which  ran  a  trolley  line  — 
were  wide,  but  the  town  was  not  attractive. 
The  hotel  was  Japanese,  but  had  had  a  few  for- 
eign guests,  and  thought  it  knew  exactly  how 
to  serve  them.  As  I  was  with  a  Japanese, 
the  son  of  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  town, 
I  had  every  attention.  At  the  door  I  removed 
my  shoes,  and  shuffled  up  the  stairs  in 
bath-room  slippers.  The  room  was  on  the 
third  floor,  and  was  furnished  with  a  low 
table  and  a  few  pillows.  The  floor  was  cov- 
ered with  matting,  and  even  slippers  were 
tabooed  here.  My  ideas  of  Japanese  etiquette 
were  rather  vague,  to  say  the  least,  in  spite  of 
a  little  coaching  from  Mrs.  Rowland;  so  with 
lynx  eyes  I  watched  Toshio  —  to  do  as  he  did. 
Later  I  discovered  he  was  watching  me  rather 
intently,  and  ever  since  I  have  been  won- 
dering if  he  were  trying  to  imitate  me.  I 
am  afraid  that  I  shocked  him  many  times  that 
day  —  more  especially  by  abruptness  of  man- 
ner than  by  any  real  discourtesy,  I  hope.  On 
ordering  tea  a  servant  brought  out  from  the 
window  seat  a  Satsuma  tea  set,  later  bring- 
ing it  back  with  a  covered  Satsuma  bowl. 
We  drank  our  tea  —  oh,  so  slowly,  but  no 
reference  was  made  to  the  bowl.  Once 
Toshio  left  the  room, .  and  I  looked  in.  It 
contained  cake,  but  he  did  not  offer  it  for 
some  time.  Then  I  took  a  piece  in  my  chop 
sticks  and  carried  it  directly  to  my  mouth  — 


22      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

a  terrible  breach  of  etiquette.  Toshio  said 
"  I  am  surprised  to  see  you  do  so." 

Then  he  ordered  dinner.  This  was  a  long 
and  elaborate  process.  After  endless  bowing 
and  scraping  the  servants  left,  to  reappear 
later  with  the  meal.  It  still  remains  the  most 
remarkable  one  of  my  life!  First  we  had 
Japanese  pears  and  Japanese  beer  —  the  pears 
tasting  as  much  like  apples  as  pears,  or 
rather  tasting  like  a  combination  of  the  two. 
Then  two  trays  were  brought  in,  each  with 
two  dishes.  One  dish  was  a  bowl  of  ice, 
with  a  glass  raft  over  it,  on  which  rested  a 
iew  slices  of  raw  fish.  With  the  sauce  pro- 
vided it  was,  contrary  to  my  expectations,  de- 
licious. In  the  other  dish  was  ice  cream,  for- 
tunately served  with  spoons.  Toshio  would 
eat  a  little  bit  of  the  fish,  wait  a  long  time, 
eat  a  little  ice  cream,  and  wait  some  more; 
so  I  followed  suit.  These  waits  between 
mouthfuls  became  interminable.  If  I  had 
been  sure  that  he  was  living  up  to  his  Japa- 
nese customs  I  would  not  have  been  uneasy, 
but  I  was  sure  that  he  felt  he  was  being  very 
American.  I  had  a  lusty  appetite,  and  the 
long  waits  between  bites  only  served  to  whet 
it  constantly. 

At  length  that  course  was  finished.  Two 
more  trays  were  brought  in,  this  time  with 
fried  brook  trout  and  bamboo  roots.  After 
this   came   another   course;   pressed  chicken 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  23 

and  some  other  dish  —  I  have  forgotten  what. 
Then  came  a  large  plate  of  bread,  a  bowl  of 
butter,  mostly  melted,  and  a  large  bottle.  I 
asked  what  was  in  it.  Toshio  —  who  had  a 
very  direct  way  of  looking  at  you,  his  eyes 
wide  open,  his  expression  serious,  almost 
tragic  —  took  up  the  bottle,  smelled  it  solemnly, 
set  it  down  and  said :  "  I  think  it  is  soup." 
It  was,  but  we  did  not  indulge ! 

Then  we  took  jinrikishas  to  his  house. 
The  grounds  were  large  and  contained  sev- 
eral buildings,  the  largest  of  which  was  the 
residence  itself.  Toshio's  room  was  on  the 
second  floor  of  a  separate  building  —  this  is 
customary  for  an  eldest  son  —  and  there  I  was 
led. 

In  the  middle  of  the  room  was  a  low  table 
on  which  was  a  brazier  with  a  burning  coal, 
from  which  we  lit  our  cigarettes.  A  Japa- 
nese girl  —  about  the  homeliest  that  I  saw  in 
Japan  —  came  in  bearing  candies,  and  Toshio 
told  me  that  she  was  his  servant.  Later  an- 
other girl  brought  up  a  tray  with  tea.  She 
fell  to  the  floor  and  kow-towed,  but  not  until 
she  was  leaving  did  Toshio  mention  the  fact 
that  she  was  his  sister.  Later  his  mother 
came  up  —  here  again  I  made  a  grave  breach 
of  etiquette  by  rising.  So  later  when  his 
father  came  up  I  was  schooled  to  remain 
seated  and  kow-tow.  After  the  third  time  I 
was  quite  ready  to  stop,  but  as  the  father 


24      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

showed  no  sign  of  weariness  I  must  needs 
continue,  wondering  which  of  us  should  stop 
first.     It  was  a  very  delicate  point. 

Toshio  himself  was  about  eighteen,  short, 
slight,  frail,  but  very  studious.  His  father 
was  short  and  stout,  with  an  extremely  pene- 
trating eye.  His  mother  was  a  refined  Japa- 
nese woman,  with  a  bright  intelligent  face. 
She  was,  in  spite  of  her  inability  to  speak  Eng- 
lish, very  much  the  courteous  hostess. 

Later  Toshio  asked  me  if  I  would  like  to 
take  a  bath.  Knowing  that  the  Japanese 
bathe  together,  I  asked  if  I  might  bathe  with 
him,  not  being  at  all  certain  of  doing  the 
right  thing  if  left  to  my  own  devices.  He 
seemed  pleased,  and  led  me  to  a  small  room 
where  we  undressed,  from  which  we  entered 
the  bath-room  adjoining.  It  was  about  eight 
feet  square,  all  of  bamboo,  with  a  tub  in  it 
about  three  feet  square  and  three  feet  deep. 
The  water  in  this  tub  was  about  115° — that  is 
the  usual  temperature  for  Japanese  baths. 
We  seated  ourselves  on  tiny  stools,  and  threw 
buckets  of  this  boiling  water  over  ourselves. 
Then  he  asked  me  to  get  in  the  tub  —  for- 
tunately I  am  used  to  hot  baths  —  and  after 
I  came  out  he  got  in.  Then  he  asked  me  if  I 
would  like  his  servant  to  rub  my  back.  Re- 
membering the  female  he  had  called  his  serv- 
ant I  asked  "Boy?"  He  said  it  was;  so  I 
acquiesced.     To  my  complete  surprise  the  girl 


y,M 


■ 


MAEBASHI,  JAPAN. 
A  Room  in  a  Japanese  House. 

Toshio   Tanaka  in  his  own  room. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  25 

entered  and  proceeded  to  rub  my  back  vigor- 
ously. The  hot  water  and  the  vigorous  rub- 
bing relieved  me  of  most  of  my  cuticle,  and 
some  of  my  skin.  I  turned  to  Toshio  and 
asked,  "  Am  I  very  dirty?  "  Again  that  almost 
tragical  expression,  as  he  replied  "  Yes  — 
very !  "  Later  I  found  that  u  boy  "  was  a  gen- 
eric name  in  Japanese  English  for  "  servant." 
It  was  a  very  hot  day,  and  I  found  it  almost 
impossible  to  dry  myself.  Toshio  told  me  to 
sit  in  the  window  to  cool.  When  his  sister 
passed  a  little  later  I  was  hardly  embarrassed 
at  all  —  I  was  getting  acclimated ! 

Toshio  wanted  to  see  me  in  Japanese 
clothes,  and  brought  out  some  of  his  father's. 
The  kimono  was  rather  short,  and  not  ex- 
pansive enough,  especially  when  I  sat  on  the 
floor.  We  went  into  the  main  room  of  the 
house,  made  quite  large  by  throwing  back  all 
the  shoji,  and  had  more  tea.  My  size  seemed 
to  be  a  source  of  amazement.  At  one  time 
Mrs.  Tanaka  slapped  her  hip  vigorously,  and 
said  something  in  Japanese,  which  Toshio 
translated :  "  My-e  mother  say  —  you  have 
very  fine  constitution."  His  father  was  so 
impressed  that  he  opened  the  shoji  leading  into 
his  office  —  he  is  a  surgeon  —  so  that  he  and 
his  two  patients,  sitting  around  a  huge 
brazier,  could  see  me.  Then  he  asked  if  he 
might  weigh  me,  and  led  me  to  a  funny  little 
scale  with  a  built-in  chair  on  the  platform. 


26      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

Toshio  announced  with  evident  satisfaction 
that  I  weighed  twenty-four  pounds,  but  his 
satisfaction  was  nothing  compared  to  mine. 
Needless  to  say  the  unit  of  measure  was  not 
pounds. 

We  returned  to  Toshio's  room  after  a  while, 
and  another  guest  was  announced  by  Toshio 
in  this  remarkable  manner :  "  An  Indian 
comes. "  I  was  prepared  for  most  anything 
but  an  Indian!  He  proved  to  be  an  East- 
Indian  from  Malacca,  who  had  lived  in  Paris, 
London,  New  York,  and  nearly  all  the  large 
cities  of  the  world.  He  spoke,  besides  his 
own  language,  French,  English,  German, 
Japanese,  Chinese,  Italian,  and  a  little  Turkish 
and  Russian,  but  his  English  was  by  no  means 
as  good  as  Toshio's.  He  was  short,  with  a 
rat-like  head  and  a  stringy  long  beard  of  per- 
haps a  dozen  hairs,  and  was  dressed  in  Eng- 
lish clothes.  Later  Toshio's  entire  family  re- 
turned to  his  room.  When  it  was  time  for  me 
to  change  my  clothes  and  go  back  to  the 
hotel,  they  showed  no  evidence  of  leaving, 
and  I  was  at  a  loss  what  to  do,  until  the 
"  Indian,"  perceiving  my  difficulty,  suggested 
that  all  but  Toshio  should  wait  downstairs 
until  I  was  dressed! 

At  the  hotel  the  manager  had  prepared  an 
American  bed  for  me,  much  to  my  disgust,  as 
I  should  have  preferred  a  Japanese  quilt. 
But  I  saw  that  I  would  give  offense  if  I  did 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  27 

not  use  the  bed;  so  was  led  to  another  room 
by  the  manager,  followed  by  Toshio,  the 
"  Indian,"  the  wife  of  the  manager,  and  most 
of  the  servants.  The  bed  was  an  iron  one, 
placed  in  the  exact  center  of  the  room,  with 
a  hideous  and  close  mosquito  net  over  it  col- 
ored purple  and  green.  The  sheet  was  a  nar- 
row and  short  piece  of  white  crepe,  the  only 
cover  a  quilt,  though  the  night  was  stifling. 
The  pillow  was  a  towel  stuffed  with  hay  — 
later  I  took  one  of  the  beautiful  soft  cushions 
off  the  floor  in  my  room  to  use  on  my  bed. 
I  felt  the  bed,  nodded  approval  —  which  I  did 
not  feel  —  and  immediately  everyone  was  in 
smiles,  as  if  a  momentous  question  had  been 
solved.  Then  I  made  an  appointment  with 
Toshio  for  the  next  morning  at  six-thirty, 
and  retired. 

It  was  too  cool  without  the  quilt,  and  too 
hot  with  it.  After  some  hours  I  went  to 
sleep,  to  be  awakened  the  next  moment,  it 
seemed,  by  Toshio.  It  was  five-thirty!  He 
said  he  had  come  early,  as  the  car  we  wanted 
to  take,  and  which  he  thought  left  at  seven- 
thirty,  really  left  at  seven.  I  dressed,  and 
then  he  told  me  that  the  seven  o'clock  car 
would  make  us  wait  an  hour  at  the  transfer 
point;  so  that  it  would  be  better  to  wait  for 
the  eight  o'clock  car  after  all ! 

It  was  a  dark,  lowering  day,  and  hot  too. 
We  took  the  trolley  to  Ikao,  where  we  met 


28      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

Miyakawa,  a  friend  of  Toshio's,  who  also 
spoke  English. 

Ikao  is  a  most  interesting  town,  and  is 
famous  for  its  sulphur  baths.  Its  main  street 
is  built  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  and  consists  of 
steps  for  nearly  its  whole  length.  The  houses, 
and  their  settings,  are  very  picturesque. 
We  took  a  walk  in  the  morning,  and  in  the 
afternoon  started  off  for  Haruna  —  for  in  an 
unguarded  moment  I  had  said  I  wanted  to 
go  there.  A  slow  drizzling  rain  set  in,  that 
dampened  my  enthusiasm  and  ardor  greatly. 
We  climbed  straight  up  a  mountain  side,  and 
the  heat  was  intense.  I  tried  to  tell  them 
that  it  was  useless  to  go  to  Haruna  on 
a  day  like  this,  that  we  wouldn't  be  able  to 
see  anything  when  we  got  there.  But  they 
were  adamantine  —  I  had  said  I  wanted  to 
see  it,  and  see  it  I  must.  If  I  had  known  the 
distance  I  would  have  stopped  then  and  there, 
but  they  kept  saying  it  was  "  only  a  little  ways 
further  "  or  "  very  near,"  until  we  had  actu- 
ally walked  the  six  miles  to  the  lake.  Of 
course  we  could  see  nothing;  so  then  we  had 
to  turn  around  and  walk  back.  But  return- 
ing was  not  quite  so  bad,  as  I  really  knew 
how  far  I  had  to  go,  and  most  of  the  way  was 
down  hill. 

At  Haruna  were  two  hotels,  each  crowded 
with  guests  from  Ikao  hotels.  We  met  boys 
running  along  the  road  carrying  umbrellas  to 


IKAO,  JAPAN. 
The  Principal  Street. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  29 

them  —  imagine  sending  a  boy  six  miles  with 
an  umbrella  —  a  paper  one  at  that !  Some  of 
the  more  fortunate  guests  had  hammock-like 
chairs,  carried  by  two  coolies  if  the  passenger 
were  Japaxiese,  but  by  four  to  six  if  he  were  a 
foreigner.  The  Japs  looked  very  comfortable 
all  snuggled  up  in  this  hammock,  but  the 
foreigners  did  not  look  so  at  all  —  elbows  and 
knees  were  particularly  conspicuous.  Per- 
haps I  was  not  so  badly  off  after  all. 

The  long  trolley  ride  back  to  Maebashi  in 
wet  clothes  did  not  make  for  comfort  either, 
but  one  of  those  steaming  hot  baths  in  the 
hotel  tub  made  me  at  peace  with  the  world 
again.  After  dinner  was  served  —  in  my 
room,  of  course,  as  there  is  no  public  dining 
room  —  I  was  very  ready  for  bed. 

After  returning  to  Yokohama  a  proposed 
trip  with  Toshio  had  to  be  canceled,  for  his 
grandfather,  as  he  wrote  "  has  become  sick, 
and  is  going  to  danger." 

A  letter  from  Toshio  to  a  friend  in  America 
about  my  visit  is  too  good  not  to  give.  Much 
allowance  must  be  made  in  it  for  "  Japanese 
politeness."     Here  is  a  portion  of  the  letter: 

"  I  had  a  very  happy  and  good  Summer  vacation 
last-year,  because  Mr.  Howard,  my  intimate  friend, 
came  over  to  our  country,  and  kindly  visited  my 
house. 

"He  is  a  fine  gentleman  indeed;  his  eyes  are 
large  and  clear,  his  nose  is  high  and  he  has  also  a 


30      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

tender  smile  in  his  face,  which  he  always  gives  us 
when  he  speaks  with  us.  He  also  speaks  English 
eloquently,  and  I  was  taught  a  great  deal  of  English 
languages  while  he  was  staying.  Truely,  I  have  never 
met  with  such  a  fine  foreign  gentleman  in  our 
country.  My  parents  and  Sister  were  very  glad  to 
see  him,  and  wished  him  to  stay  as  long  as  he 
could;  but  unfortunately  they  can  not  speak  English 
nicely,  they  only  talked  with  him  in  gesticulation. 
If  they  only  could  speak  English  nicely,  they  would 
be  greatly  pleased.  We  were  very  much  surprised 
to  see  Mr.  Howard  was  accustomed  to  the  Japanese 
style  very  well.  He  knows  well  the  Japanese  polite- 
ness, he  takes  Japanese  food  and  also  smokes  Jap- 
anese cigarettes.  I  have  once  heard  from  our 
English  teacher  that  the  people  who  live  in  your 
country  are  all  sociable  men,  truly  I  found  it  in  Mr. 
Howard.  He  is  a  very  sociable  man  indeed,  for 
this  was  for  the  first  time  I  met  with  him  in  my 
life,  but  he  talked  with  us  as  if  he  had  known  us 
from  a  child.  I  like  very  much  such  a  man.  Oh! 
what  a  happy  Summer  vacation  I  spent  last  year. 
If  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  our 
country  this  Summer,  I  shall  be  a  very  happy  man 
in  the  world." 

The  railway  trip  to  Kamakura  is  through 
very  pretty  country,  the  rice  fields  and  ter- 
races being  especially  attractive.  At  Kama- 
kura is  the  Dai-butsu,  or  Great  Buddha. 
This  marvelous  bronze  was  cast  about  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  has  none 
of  the  exaggerations  of  so  many  of  the  other 
Buddhas,  though  of  course  Oriental  in  char- 
acter, and  is  really  sublimely  impressive.     It 


JAPAN. 

Two   views  of   the   Dai-butsu,   or   Great   Buddha,   at 

Kamakura. 

A  Diver  at  Enoshima. 

Waiting  for  the  Emperor's  Funeral. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  31 

is  almost  fifty  feet  high,  and  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  piece  of  cast  bronze  in  existence.  In 
its  calm  and  dignity  it  cannot  be  surpassed :  it 
certainly  typifies  all  that  is  best  in  the  religion 
it  symbolizes. 

At  Enoshima  a  few  miles  away  is  a  cave 
highly  revered  by  the  Japanese,  but  of  no 
great  interest  to  foreigners.  The  island  is 
attractive,  though,  and  the  fishermen  and 
divers,  with  their  small  bodies  but  magnificent 
physiques,  are  well  worth  seeing. 

The  Rowlands  had  given  me  a  cordial  in- 
vitation to  visit  them  in  Sapporo  on  the  island 
of  Hokkaido  —  often  called  Yezo  —  just 
north  of  Hondo,  which  is  the  largest  and  most 
important  island.  Of  course  I  accepted,  but 
on  my  way  there  made  several  stops. 

My  first  was  a  short  one  at  Tokyo,  where 
a  long  jinrikisha  ride  to  the  station  from  the 
hotel  at  night,  through  the  narrow  back 
streets,  proved  most  interesting.  The  little 
glimpses  of  the  homes  and  shops  passed  at 
this  hour  gave  more  of  an  insight  into  Japa- 
nese life  than  much  daytime  wandering,  when 
the  people  were  more  confined  to  the  labors 
of  the  day.  Tokyo  is  said  to  cover  one  hun- 
dred square  miles,  and  is  the  largest  city  of 
the  East.  A  ride  at  night  helps  to  make  one 
realize  its  vast  size. 

Sendai  was  the  next  stop,  from  which  I 
visited    Takayama    and    Matsushima.     Taka- 


32      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

yama  is  a  delightful  cottage  colony  of 
foreigners  on  the  coast,  amid  picturesque  sur- 
roundings. It  is  six  miles  from  the  railway 
station,  and  the  charge  for  the  jinrikisha  ride 
is  thirty  cents.  A  friend  I  expected  to  find 
here  was  absent,  and  I  was  compelled  to  ac- 
cept the  hospitality  of  absolute  strangers,  but 
old  friends  could  not  have  been  more  cordial 
or  kindly. 

Matsushima  is  one  of  the  "  San-kei "  or 
"  Three  Great  Sights "  of  Japan.  It  is  a 
large  bay  studded  with  tiny  islands  of  vol- 
canic tufa  of  weird  and  fantastic  shape,  with 
pines  as  weird  and  fantastic  as  the  islands 
themselves  —  a  charming  view  —  not  unlike 
parts  of  Lake  George.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot, 
but  too-enthusiastic  tourists  are  often  dis- 
appointed here,  having  been  led  to  expect 
something  very  exceptional.  One  of  the 
islands  approached  by  a  bridge  has  little 
shrines  cut  in  the  rock,  and  a  path  leading  over 
it  in  the  picturesque  way  so  dear  to  the  heart 
of  the  Japanese  gardener. 

The  two-day  trip  from  Sendai  to  Sapporo 
was  tiresome  for  the  most  part.  The  "  ferry  " 
from  Aomori  to  Hakodate  takes  four  and  a 
half  hours  —  the  rest  of  the  trip  was  by  train. 

Hokkaido  is  of  course  much  farther  north 
than  the  rest  of  Japan  and  the  climate  is  so 
much  the  cooler.  It  is  not  unlike  New  Eng- 
land in  its  trees,  flowers  and  animal  life,  as 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  33 

well  as  in  its  climate.  The  Japanese  have 
only  recently  settled  here  in  any  great  num- 
bers, and  the  villages  and  the  whole  char- 
acter of  the  country  are  by  no  means  typical 
of  Japan.  The  houses,  for  instance,  are  quite 
unlike  the  fragile  houses  further  south,  as 
they  have  to  be  built  very  strong  to  resist  the 
biting  cold  and  the  snows  of  severe  winters. 

Sapporo,  the  capital  of  the  island,  is  not 
an  old  city,  having  been  officially  created  in 
1870.  It  is  well  laid  out,  with  unusually  wide 
streets.  On  one  of  these  streets  I  chanced  on 
some  policemen,  leading  four  prisoners,  who 
had  inverted  baskets  over  their  heads  to  pre- 
serve them  from  the  ignomy  and  disgrace  of 
recognition. 

Mr.  Rowland  was  anxious  that  I  should 
see  the  Ainus,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
Japan.  They  are  found  now  only  in  a  few 
villages  of  Hokkaido,  and  are  fast  dying  out: 
a  few  years  will  probably  find  them  extinct. 
One  of  these  villages  is  near  Shiraoi.  The 
Ainu  men  are  short,  like  the  Japanese,  but 
more  heavily  built.  Unlike  the  Japanese  they 
are  extremely  hairy,  and,  with  their  full 
beards,  are  often  very  handsome.  The 
women  are  far  from  handsome,  as  they  tattoo 
the  flesh  for  an  inch  around  their  mouths,  ex- 
tending it  up  on  their  cheeks  like  a  mustache. 
The  effect  is  not  very  agreeable.  Their 
houses  are  built  almost  entirely  of  thatch.     In 


34      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

several  cases  we  saw  large  cages  built  outside 
the  house,  with  a  young  bear  cub  inside. 
These  are  kept  and  fattened,  to  be  later  killed 
for  a  feast  of  a  semi-religious  nature. 

From  Shiraoi  we  continued  to  the  hot 
springs  of  Nobori-betsu.  This  is  a  favorite 
bathing  resort  of  the  Japanese.  There  are  the 
usual  volcanic  activities  —  a  pool  of  boiling 
mud,  spouting  geysers,  boiling  springs,  and  an 
all-pervasive  sulphur  smell.  The  Japanese 
stand  under  streams  of  this  water,  which  is 
actually  boiling  hot,  and  let  it  fall  on  their 
bare  backs  —  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
how  they  can  become  so  inured  to  it. 

Returning,  we  stopped  to  visit  a  Japanese 
preacher.  The  amount  of  kow-towing  a 
Japanese  missionary  has  to  do  is  beyond  be- 
lief. I  have  seen  it  kept  up,  slowly  and  de- 
liberately, for  ten  minutes.  Surely  a  strong 
spine  and  tough  knees  must  be  one  of  the  re- 
quirements ! 

The  time  at  Sapporo  passed  pleasantly,  and 
all  too  quickly.  Returning  to  the  main  island, 
I  stopped  off  at  Nikko,  with  its  exquisite  tem- 
ples. It  is  in  itself  a  beauty  spot  —  its  chief 
glory,  aside  from  the  temples,  being  the  mag- 
nificent cryptomerias,  huge  trees  of  wonderful 
proportions,  on  the  order  of  our  cedars.  On 
leaving  Nikko  a  seven-mile  jinrikisha  ride  is 
taken  down  a  cryptomeria  avenue  —  it  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  sights  of  Nikko. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  35 

The  temples  have  a  setting  of  brilliant  green, 
broken  by  imposing  flights  of  broad  stone 
stairs.  Beside  the  temples  there  are  numer- 
ous lanterns,  of  bronze  and  stone;  many  ex- 
quisite gateways  with  marvelous  wood  carv- 
ings; toriis  of  wood  and  stone,  and  a  pagoda. 
The  torii  is  the  familiar  Japanese  gateway, 
which  is  always  placed  in  front  of  Shinto 
temples. 

The  temples  all  through  Japan  are  much 
alike:  a  large  space  open  on  three  sides,  with 
the  altar  or  image  in  a  shrine  on  the  fourth 
side.  Those  at  Nikko  are  very  large,  and  are 
unusual  in  that  some  of  them  are  covered  with 
red  lacquer.  It  is  always  raining  in  Nikko, 
which  accounts  for  the  beautiful  shade  of  the 
foliage.  It  also  accounts  for  the  fact  that  I 
was  unable  to  make  the  trip  to  Lake  Chu- 
zenji. 

The  funeral  of  the  Emperor  —  who,  by  the 
way,  is  never  called  the  Mikado  in  Japan  — 
was  held  on  the  thirteenth  of  September  at 
Kyoto.  Through  the  kindness  of  a  friend  I 
went  with  a  Toyko  school.  At  noon,  in  full 
evening  dress,  with  a  wide  band  of  crepe 
around  my  hat,  I  walked  with  the  school  to 
the  place  designated  for  it  on  the  line  of  march. 
The  funeral  was  to  start  at  eight  o'clock  at 
night,  but  it  was  necessary  to  come  so  early 
to  reserve  our  places.  The  route  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  cortege  was  lined  with  torches 


36      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

and  with  trees,  from  which  long  white 
streamers  were  hung.  The  police  had  given 
orders  on  every  conceivable  subject,  from 
what  to  wear  and  where  to  stand  to  when  to 
rise  and  what  to  eat!  One  of  the  rules  was 
that  each  person  should  have  a  mourning 
badge  —  many  wore  a  little  celluloid  button 
with  a  picture  of  a  black  bow !  I  saw  one 
coolie  stripped  to  the  waist  with  a  mourning 
band  around  his  arm !  The  rules  ran  into  such 
detail  as  to  make  them  ridiculous  read- 
ing, but  they  served  the  purpose :  the  arrange- 
ments were  admirable,  and  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  crowds  there  was  no  accident.  My 
own  costume  was  said  to  be  absolutely  obliga- 
tory for  a  foreigner,  but  never  again  do  I  ex- 
pect to  wear  evening  dress  in  the  daytime  to  a 
funeral. 

During  the  seven  hours'  wait  there  was 
much  to  attract  the  attention  and  help  pass 
the  time.  At  nightfall  the  torches  were  lit, 
and  cast  a  bright  but  flickering  light  over  the 
road.  Shortly  before  eight  the  procession  be- 
gan to  pass  us,  and  exactly  on  the  hour  a  gun 
was  fired,  announcing  that  the  cortege  had  left 
the  palace.  The  first  part  of  the  procession 
consisted  of  soldiers  and  sailors,  some  of 
them  from  foreign  countries,  who  passed  by 
silently,  with  reversed  arms.  The  road  was 
covered  with  tan  bark,  and  the  procession 
passed  almost  without  sound.     The  flickering 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  37 

lights,  and  the  vast  number  of  men  with  their 
silent  tread  made  an  unusually  impressive 
ceremony  even  of  this  part  of  this  strange 
funeral. 

Then  came  the  Shinto  priests  in  flowing 
robes,  carrying  symbols,  such  as  bows,  quivers, 
shields,  gongs,  and  the  like.  Several  bands 
went  by  also,  playing  a  dirge  —  adding  to  the 
weird  effect  by  some  shrill  Japanese  musi- 
cal instruments.  Then  came  the  catafalque, 
drawn  by  five  oxen.  The  oxen  were  so  sur- 
rounded by  cow-herds  that  they  could  scarcely 
be  seen.  The  catafalque  was  a  wooden  two- 
wheeled  cart,  not  unlike  an  ice-wagon  in  ap- 
pearance. It  was  decorated,  but  the  light 
was  too  dim  to  distinguish  details.  For  an 
hour  and  a  half  after  the  passing  of  the 
catafalque  the  procession  of  soldiers  con- 
tinued. 

On  the  way  from  Tokyo  to  Kyoto  the  train 
passes  close  to  Fuji-yama.  The  mountain  is  a 
perfect  cone,  and  is  very  beautiful  —  no  won- 
der the  Japanese  love  it.  On  the  way  down 
I  amused  myself  with  the  Tokyo  Puck. 
It  is  a  comic  paper  published  by  Japanese  in 
English.  It  had  a  remarkable  editorial  on 
the  Emperor's  death.  The  spirit  of  the  edi- 
torial was  sincere  enough,  but  its  expression 
left  much  to  be  desired,  and  as  for  its  use  of 
the  "  pnglirh  "  language  —  well,  it  speaks  for 
itself.     The  type  was  evidently  pied,  to  add 


38      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

to  the   trouble.     The   following   is    an   exact 
copy : — 

TOKYO  PUCK 

Tokyo,  Ougust  20,  1912. 

CHEER  UP 

Cheer  up,  friends !  True,  our  good  and  beloved 
empe  ov  is  gone.  But  he  is  happiev  in  yondev 
ethersal  height,  at  bast  free  from  this  awful  heat 
of  earthly  summev.  Besides  dead,  he  is  aleie  doing 
an  unexpected  lot  of  good  to  the  countug. 

Behoed !  thue  is  that  interesting  practical  jokey 
kno  coming  in  all  soberness  to  atteud  the  imperial 
effect  of  his  neutralising  scheme  of  a  few  years  ago. 
Ond  nothing  short  of  the  sad  event  could  haye  dene 
that.    In  death  he  conguereth  indeed ! 

Then  there  is  a  prowd  prince  of  the  pvoud  hoase 
of  Hohenzollern  to  represesent  his  proudev  brothev 
in  paying  the  last  tribute  to  one  who  was  once  cari- 
catured as  the  sove  and  spirit  of  yellow  peril!  Of 
conse  we  mean  it  all  will :  this  is  ong  mr  pucki  woy 
of  soy  it. 

Hey-ho !  Cheer  up,  lament  not,  f  riwds !  Not  down 
hue  in  this  mundane  worM.  Rut  up  obove  he 
shineth  a  light  that  illumines  the  hath  of  his  eounty 
forevev.  Theongh  his  death  the  voored  has  bocome 
more  friendl  to  us.  Even  that  young  joiunal  which, 
printed  in  pnglirh  is  pubhshei  to  serve  continental 
pmposes,  aud  which  calls  reirlivg  jafan  indefeudeut 
journalism  is  paiynig  tribntee  to  the  dead  Sovoreign, 
thnikng  it  a  good  form!  Of  cowse  it  is  not  nwel 
of  a  comfliment  to  be  spokew  of  well  by  a  mer- 
cenwy  sheet  of  the  kind.  But  that  a  journal  of  the 
kind  should  deem  it  proper  seven  to  obseve  good 
form,  is  a  most  eloquent  testimony  that  thereis  some- 
thing realy  great  and  holy  in  his  memory.  Cheer  up, 
friends,  a  good  understauding  is  coming. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  39 

Three  days  after  the  funeral  there  was  an- 
other interesting  ceremony  in  memory  of  the 
Emperor,  but  this  one  was  Buddhist.  The 
Nishi  Hongwanji  is  a  large  Buddhist  temple, 
the  lower  floor  opening  on  three  sides  on  a 
large  porch.  In  the  center  of  the  fourth  side 
was  the  shrine,  lit  by  numerous  tiny  lamps  and 
candles.  On  each  side  of  the  shrine  were 
rooms,  the  decorations  of  the  wall  being  solid 
gold  relieved  only  by  a  brown  kakemono  and 
a  spray  of  pine.  In  the  center  of  the  build- 
ing were  four  massive  wooden  pillars,  sup- 
porting the  roof.  By  these  sat  some  priests, 
and  the  musicians.  Behind,  places  were  roped 
off  for  schoolgirls  and  dignitaries,  and  behind 
them  again  came  the  public. 

The  priests  began  to  file  into  the  rooms  at 
each  side  of  the  shrine.  They  were  in  gor- 
geous robes  of  changeable  colors.  The  first 
had  on  a  robe  of  salmon,  red  and  gold.  He 
was  followed  by  others  in  royal  purples, 
greens,  yellows  and  browns.  They  seated 
themselves  on  the  floor,  facing  the  shrine. 
The  exquisite  hues  of  their  robes,  with  the 
background  of  pure  gold,  gave  a  most  won- 
derful effect  —  it  was  as  if  a  rare  piece  of 
Satsuma  had  come  to  life.  Then  priests  of 
higher  rank  entered,  who  took  seats  nearer  the 
shrine.  The  service  was  intoned,  the  priests 
rising  and  sitting  often.  At  one  time  they 
walked   to   and   fro   in   front  of  the   shrines 


40      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

carrying  books  from  which  hung  three  long 
silk  cords.  They  would  tear  out  leaves  —  as 
prayers  —  and  cast  them  on  the  floor.  At  the 
close  of  the  service  the  various  dignitaries 
filed  past,  made  their  obeisance  to  the  shrine, 
and  offered  up  incense.  This  service  was  far 
more  interesting  and  picturesque  than  the 
funeral,  though  it  lacked  the  eeriness  given  by 
the  night  and  the  flickering  torches. 

There  are  many  interesting  buildings  and 
temples  in  Kyoto.  The  San-ju-san-gen-do  is 
unique.  It  is  a  temple  to  Kwannon,  the  god- 
dess of  mercy,  and  contains  33,333  images  of 
her.  It  is  a  low  unimpressive  building  nearly 
four  hundred  feet  long.  In  it  are  one  thou- 
sand gilt  statues  of  the  goddess  rising  in  five 
tiers  one  behind  the  other.  The  effect  is 
startling,  if  not  particularly  artistic.  In  the 
hands  of  the  figures  are  numerous  small 
statues  that  make  up  the  total  number  of 
representations  of  the  goddess.  In  another 
building  is  a  large  Dai-butsu  in  wood.  It 
shows  the  head  and  shoulders  only,  and  is  re- 
markable chiefly  for  size,  being  in  no  other 
way  comparable  to  the  one  at  Kamakura. 
The  Yasaka  Pagoda  has  five  stories,  but  the 
climb  is  worth  while  on  account  of  the 
splendid  view  of  Kyoto  to  be  seen  from  the 
top.  Near  the  temple  of  Kiyomizu  is  a  small 
shed  covering  a  great  many  small  stone  images 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  41 

of  Jizo,  each  with  a  colored  cloth  bib  and  a 
pile  of  stones  in  its  lap.  Bereaved  parents 
place  these  rocks  here,  in  order  to  lessen  the 
work  of  their  children  in  the  other  world. 
A  blessing  is  invoked  by  taking  a  dipper  of 
water  and  splashing  it  all  over  the  images, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  watch  the  people  —  old 
and  young,  men,  women  and  children  —  do 
this. 

From  Kyoto  to  Miyajima  the  sleeper  was 
truly  amazing.  Its  price  in  the  first  place 
aroused  my  curiosity  —  what  kind  of  a  berth 
could  I  get  for  thirty  cents?  It  was  like  a 
series  of  couches  pushed  end  to  end  and  run- 
ning the  length  of  the  car.  When  lying  down 
your  head  was  over  the  feet  of  the  man  be- 
hind you,  and  in  turn  your  feet  were  under 
the  head  of  the  man  ahead  of  you!  There 
was  a  row  of  these  berths  on  each  side  of  the 
car,  and  above  them  rows  of  upper  berths  of 
the  same  kind.  The  space  allotted  may  have 
been  enough  for  the  short  Japanese,  but  for 
a  fairly  tall  American  they  were  not  alto- 
gether satisfactory.  By  letting  my  feet  drape 
in  the  aisle  I  secured  a  good  night's  rest,  in 
spite  of  difficulties. 

At  Miyajima  the  object  of  most  interest  is 
the  elaborate  torii.  It  is  painted  red,  and  at 
high  tide,  when  its  base  is  covered  by  water, 
is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  things  to  be 


42      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

seen  in  Japan.  Near  by  is  an  interesting  tem- 
ple and  a  little  park  that  contains  many 
doves,  and  a  few  tame  deer. 

Much  has  been  said  of  Japanese  cleanli- 
ness. In  person  they  are  clean,  but  one  has 
only  to  ride  in  a  second-class  Japanese  coach 
to  see  how  dirty  they  are  in  other  ways. 
Built-in  spittoons  are  most  conspicuous  in  the 
center  of  the  aisles,  and  form  a  constant 
stumbling  block.  The  Japanese  put  every- 
thing on  the  floor  of  the  train  —  bags  and  bun- 
dles of  all  kinds,  teapots,  ashes,  sandals, 
fruit  skins  —  everything,  in  fact,  except  their 
feet.  At  each  station  a  diminutive  boy 
comes  in  with  a  huge  wet  rag  and  washes  off 
the  floor,  leaving  it  a  little  less  encumbered, 
but  decidedly  moist  and  prone  to  gather  dirt. 

It  was  a  particularly  beautiful  moonlight 
night  as  I  sailed  from  Shimonoseki.  Lights 
twinkled  on  the  shore,  and  everything  was 
stilled.  As  the  boat  went  on,  a  beautiful 
Fuji-like  mountain  sailed  underneath  the  half 
moon.     It  was  a  fitting  "  sayonara  "  to  Japan. 

But  though  the  night  began  so  auspiciously 
it  did  not  continue  so.  The  boat  was  small, 
and  the  passage  was  rough.  The  name  of  the 
boat  —  the  "  Iki  Maru  " —  was  not  exactly  re- 
assuring. All  night  long  the  boat  tossed  and 
rolled.  It  kept  me  awake,  and  the  words  of 
a  half- forgotten  song  kept  running  through 
my  head :     "  I've  got  a  motta,  always  merry 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  43 

and  bright," — "  Cheer  up,  Cuthbert,  you'll 
soon  be  dead"  and  the  rest  of  the  inanity, 
over  and  over  again  —  but  it  helped  to  pass 
the  time. 

Leaving  Fusan  the  next  morning  a  long 
train  ride  brought  me  to  Seoul  that  night. 
Korea  is  now  called  Cho-sen  by  the  Japanese. 
The  Korean  men  dress  in  a  long  robe  of  stiff 
thin  material  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  fas- 
tened by  a  large  bow  on  the  right  breast.  In 
color  it  is  usually  white,  but  may  be  a  pale 
shade  of  pink,  blue,  or  green.  Under  this  is 
a  white  shirt,  and  full  white  trousers  gathered 
at  the  ankles,  with  shoes  of  wood  shaped  like 
a  canoe.  On  their  head  they  wear  a  hat  of 
stiff  black  cloth  —  the  exact  duplicate  of  wire 
screening  —  with  a  wide  brim  of  the  same  ma- 
terial. A  tiny  pig-tail  fastened  into  a  knot 
on  top  of  their  heads  shows  through  the  hat, 
and  the  resemblance  to  a  mouse  in  a  trap  is  too 
strong  not  to  be  noticed  immediately.  The 
hat  is  held  in  place  by  two  shoe  strings  that 
tie  under  the  chin,  the  ends  falling  to  their 
waist.  Their  beards  are  downy  and  meager, 
and  the  hat  strings  make  them  look  longer 
than  they  really  are.  Add  to  this  a  pipe  with 
a  stem  a  yard  long,  and  you  have  the  complete 
picture  of  the  Korean. 

The  women's  costume  is  also  odd.  Their 
dress  is  open  horizontally  in  front,  exposing 
the    breasts,    and    they    wear    long    coats    of 


44      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

bright  colors,  which  —  though  they  have 
sleeves  —  are  always  worn  over  the  head  with 
the  arms  flapping  at  the  sides.  One  sees  in- 
numerable naked  children  with  abdomens 
that  are  almost  spherical  —  caused  by  a  dis- 
ease, it  is  said,  traceable  to  a  rice  diet. 

At  Seoul  by  far  the  most  interesting  things 
were  the  natives  themselves.  They  are  ab- 
solutely different  from  the  Japanese,  and  are 
a  never- failing  source  of  interest  and  amuse- 
ment. No  comic  opera  would  dare  bring  out  a 
chorus  dressed  in  real  Korean  clothes  —  they 
would  be  hooted  off  the  stage  for  being  so  un- 
true and  unrealistic! 

The  old  North  palace,  which  has  not  been 
used  since  the  queen  wras  murdered  there  in 
1895,  is  magnificent  though  falling  into  ruin. 
The  death  of  a  member  of  the  royal  family  al- 
ways necessitated  a  new  palace  —  the  old  one 
was  desecrated.  Walking  in  a  straight  line 
from  the  main  gateway,  one  goes  through 
court  and  palace  in  endless  succession.  The 
courts  are  stone  paved,  but  have  fallen  into 
such  a  ruinous  state  that  in  one  of  them  they 
were  actually  cutting  the  grass.  Many  of  the 
gateways  are  exceptionally  beautiful  —  the 
wood  carving  and  tile  work  being  particularly 
attractive.  At  one  side,  surrounded  by  a  moat 
filled  with  pond  lilies,  stood  a  beautiful  build- 
ing called  the  "  Banqueting  Hall,"  but  said  to 
have    been    a    hall    for    ceremonial    dancing. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA  45 

The  tomb  of  the  murdered  queen  lies  outside 
the  town,  and  shows  the  arrangement  typical 
of  Chinese  tombs,  with  some  interesting  carved 
stone  figures. 

The  trip  from  Seoul  to  Mukden  takes 
seventeen  hours.  A  fine  new  bridge  crosses 
the  Yalu,  which  is  the  boundary  line  between 
Korea  and  Manchuria.  One  wonders  how 
long  it  will  be  before  the  Japanese  have 
control  of  Manchuria  also. 


Chapter  IV 

CHINA 

On  crossing  the  Yalu  it  becomes  apparent  at 
once  that  you  are  in  China,  for  all  of  the  na- 
tives are  dressed  in  blue.  This  blue  clothing 
seems  to  be  universal  in  China,  though  of 
course  it  is  much  more  prevalent  in  some  parts 
of  the  country  than  it  is  in  others. 

At  Mukden  it  is  necessary  —  in  order  to 
visit  the  palace  —  to  procure  a  pass  from  your 
Consul.  The  American  Consul  lived  in  an 
artistic  old  house  —  formerly  a  temple  —  with 
much  around  that  was  quaint  and  curious. 
The  palace  in  itself  was  not  particularly  in- 
teresting, but  contained  a  marvelous  collec- 
tion of  old  porcelain,  and  some  valuable  old 
embroideries. 

Mukden  is  a  dirty  city,  with  two  wide 
streets  meeting  at  right  angles,  a  three-story 
tower  standing  at  the  junction.  The  Man- 
chus  —  for  of  course  we  are  in  Manchuria  — 
are  fine  specimens  of  manhood ;  big,  husky 
fellows  entirely  unlike  the  small  Chinese  of  the 
South.  Once  it  was  necessary  to  change  a 
film  in  my  camera.  I  was  immediately  sur- 
rounded by  a  large  gaping  crowd  —  perfectly 
quiet,  but  tremendously  interested.  A  uni- 
46 


3 


MUKDEN,  MANCHURIA. 

A  Street  Scene. 

The  Residence  of  the  American  Consul. 


CHINA  47 


formed  policeman  came  hustling  importantly 
up,  but  instead  of  dispersing  the  crowd  he 
joined  it,  taking  advantage  of  his  authority  to 
get  a  front  place.  To  the  passing  tourist  the 
principal  business  here  seems  to  be  hog  deal- 
ing—  never  have  I  seen  so  many  hogs.  On 
the  streets  are  many  butcher  shops,  and  in 
front  of  each  lie  a  dozen  or  so  fat  porkers, 
their  feet  tied  together,  awaiting  their  turn 
for  execution.  Two  Manchus  were  carrying 
a  dressed  carcass  down  the  street  —  some- 
thing broke,  and  the  body  rolled  through  the 
dirt  of  the  street.  It  did  not  increase  one's 
appetite  for  pork. 

The  railway  trip  from  Mukden  to  Peking 
had  to  be  broken  at  Shan-hai-kwan,  unless 
a  special  train  is  taken  that  runs  only  once  a 
week.  At  Shan-hai-kwan  the  Great  Wall 
meets  the  sea,  but  reference  to  this  will  be 
made  later. 

As  the  train  reached  Peking  late  at  night, 
the  magnificent  wall  and  gateways  made  a 
wonderful  silhouette  in  the  moonlight.  The 
walls  of  Peking  are  in  some  respects  more 
impressive  than  the  Great  Wall  itself,  as  they 
are  considerably  larger.  The  walls  of  the 
Tartar  City  are  thirteen  miles  long,  while 
those  of  the  Chinese  City,  immediately  to  the 
south,  must  be  nearly  half  that  length. 
These  walls  are  forty  feet  high,  and  are  ex- 
tremely well  built.     The  road  on  the  top  is 


48      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

twenty  feet  wide,  and  from  it  splendid  views  of 
the  city  can  be  obtained. 

Peking  is  unattractive  for  the  most  part. 
The  main  streets  are  very  wide,  but  extremely 
dusty  and  dirty.  The  Legation  Quarter, 
which  has  been  enlarged  since  the  Boxer  re- 
bellion, resembles  in  its  architecture  a  Con- 
tinental city,  and  is  by  far  the  handsomest  part 
of  town  —  with  the  possible  exception  of  the 
Forbidden  City,  which  few  foreigners  are  al- 
lowed to  enter. 

There  are  many  ancient  temples  in  Peking. 
Some  of  them  might  be  exceedingly  beautiful, 
but  they  are  absolutely  spoiled  by  the  fact 
that  the  surroundings  are  neglected  and  un- 
cared  for,  and  the  temples  themselves  are 
dilapidated  and  filthily  dirty.  The  Chinese 
will  soon  learn,  as  the  Japanese  already  have, 
that  it  will  pay,  from  a  purely  utilitarian 
standpoint,  to  take  better  care  of  their  crum- 
bling monuments,  in  the  increased  number  of 
tourists  drawn  thereby. 

The  Altar  and  Temple  of  Heaven  are  in 
a  large  park-like  enclosure  in  the  Chinese 
city.  The  Altar  consists  of  three  white  marble 
terraces,  of  which  the  lowest  one  is  over  two 
hundred  feet  wide.  The  balustrades  and 
much  of  the  stone  work  is  beautifully  carved. 
The  Temple  of  Heaven  stands  on  a  similar 
series  of  terraces,  and  is  a  round  building  with 
an  ancient  blue  tiled  roof.     The  interior   is 


CHINA  49 

impressive,  on  account  of  its  huge  teak-wood 
columns. 

The  Llama  Temple  is  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  Tartar  City.  The  Llamas  are  a  sect 
of  Buddhist  priests  or  monks,  and  wear  the 
same  yellow  robes  that  were  later  to  be  seen 
in  Burma  and  Ceylon.  A  service  witnessed 
here  was  not  unlike  the  Buddhist  ceremony 
seen  at  Kyoto,  though  it  was  by  no  means  so 
elaborate  or  picturesque.  The  temple  itself 
was  an  old  royal  palace.  Near  by  is  the  Tem- 
ple of  the  Great  Buddha.  This  dilapidated 
and  dirty  building  contains  a  figure  of  Buddha 
in  wood,  gaudily  painted,  and  is  remarkable 
for  its  height  of  seventy  feet  rather  than  for 
any  artistic  value.  The  Temple  of  Confucius 
is  also  near.  In  its  Hall  of  Classics  are  copies 
of  the  Chinese  classics  carved  in  stone,  in 
order  to  make  sure  of  their  preservation  for 
future  generations.  In  the  courtyard  of  the 
temple  is  a  pailow,  a  thin  gateway  of  three 
flat  arches,  of  bright  green  and  yellow  tiles 
contrasted  with  white  marble,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  its  kind  in  China,  The  Summer 
Palace  was  unfortunately  not  open  to  visitors 
during  my  brief  stay  in  Peking. 

The  tombs  of  the  Emperors  of  the  Ming 
dynasty  —  or  the  Ming  Tombs,  as  they  are 
generally  called  —  can  be  reached  from  Nan- 
kow,  a  little  north  of  Peking,  by  ponies,  or  m 
a  sedan  chair.     By  pony  the  trip  took  si^  &nd 


So      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

a  half  hours.  The  trail  led  across  land  ap- 
parently bacren,  but  in  reality  producing  quite 
a  little.  Among  other  things  I  noticed  corn, 
peanuts,  and  persimmon  trees.  A  large  and 
very  beautifully  carved  white  marble  pailow 
with  five  openings  marked  the  beginning  of 
the  "  Holy  Way,"  which  continued  over  the 
country  for  miles  to  the  tombs.  After  the 
pailow,  but  some  distance  beyond  it,  was  a 
monument  to  one  of  the  Ming  Emperors,  a 
building  containing  a  stone  shaft  resting  on 
the  back  of  a  gigantic  stone  tortoise.  Im- 
mediately after  this  came  the  avenue  of  an- 
imals, in  pairs,  one  on  each  side  of  the  road, 
the  first  pair  kneeling  and  the  second  stand- 
ing. They  represented  lions,  rams,  camels, 
elephants,  fabulous  animals,  and  horses,  all 
carved  from  large  blocks  of  stone.  After 
these  came  various  officials  and  priests,  all 
standing,  also  carved  from  single  blocks.  The 
"  Holy  Way "  continued  for  some  distance 
beyond  these,  its  outlines  at  times  being 
scarcely  discernible.  Here  it  would  be 
marked  by  a  broken  marble  bridge  —  further 
on  by  a  piece  of  pavement,  but  finally  no  traces 
of  it  remained.  In  the  distance  the  tombs 
could  be  seen,  picturesquely  situated  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountains.  They  were  not  very 
near  each  other,  and  an  inspection  of  them 
all  would  take  several  days ;  so  the  tourist 
must   be   content   with   inspecting   one.     The 


CHINA  51 


Tomb  of  Yung-Loh  is  typical,  and  is  one  of 
the  largest  and  best  preserved;  and  therefore 
is  the  one  usually  visited.  The  principal  pavil- 
ion of  this  tomb  was  a  huge  hall  two  hundred 
feet  long  and  half  as  wide,  with  many  solid 
teak-wood  pillars  sixty  feet  high  supporting 
the  roof.  At  the  rear  of  this  pavilion  was  a 
large  quadrangle,  which  led  on  the  other  side 
to  a  passage  opening  on  a  terrace,  said  to  be 
directly  above  the  real  tomb,  from  which  there 
was  an  extensive  view  of  the  country  just 
passed  through. 

The  Great  Wall  is  reached  from  Nankow 
by  a  railway  which  continues  on  to  Kalgan. 
But  the  wall  can  be  seen  in  all  its  glory  at 
the  Nankow  Pass,  near  the  station  of  Ching- 
lung  Chiao.  The  pass  is  in  the  heart  of  the 
mountains,  and  is  one  of  the  main  arteries 
into  Peking  from  Mongolia.  At  Kalgan  is 
another  and  outer  wall,  which  is  nearer  the 
boundary  between  the  two  countries. 

Pictures  of  the  Great  Wall  give  little  idea 
of  its  impressiveness.  Imagine  a  wall  avera- 
ging twenty-seven  feet  in  height  and  thirty  in 
width,  extending  for  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred miles  over  the  country  —  not  passing 
along  the  plains,  but  seeking  the  very  hilliest 
places.  It  is  older  than  the  Christian  era. 
Most  of  the  wall  near  the  Nankow  pass  is 
in  excellent  condition.  Starting  at  the  gate- 
way of  the  pass,  the  walls  rise  easily  and 


52       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

gracefully  in  both  directions,  twisting,  turning, 
and  disappearing,  to  reappear  on  a  higher 
crest,  and  again  on  a  taller  mountain  behind, 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  see.  About  every  six 
hundred  yards  there  is  a  watch  tower  jutting 
out  from  the  wall,  and  relieving  what  might 
be  otherwise  a  monotonous  line.  An  Ameri- 
can army  officer  told  me  that  the  wall  is  re- 
markable in  that  it  always  makes  use  of  the 
"  military  crest " —  in  other  words  that  it 
takes  advantage  of  the  formation  of  the 
ground  so  that  an  attacking  army  must  climb 
a  hill  before  reaching  the  wall  itself. 

At  Shan-hai-kwan,  mentioned  before,  the 
wall  was  similar,  but  not  so  well  preserved. 
I  had  asked  an  Englishman  there  how  the 
Chinese  guarded  the  wall,  saying  that  they 
must  have  had  watchers  in  the  towers,  who 
telephoned  back  to  Peking  at  the  approach  of 
the  enemy.  "  Oh,"  he  answered,  "  but  they 
didn't  have  telephones  in  those  days." 

A  camel  and  donkey  caravan  passed  through 
the  massive  gateway.  There  was  nothing 
about  it  indicative  of  modern  civilization : 
caravans  similar  to  it  harve  been  passing 
through  that  gateway  every  day  for  two  thou- 
sand years ! 

At  the  pass  the  foundations  of  the  wall  and 
the  first  ten  feet  of  the  superstructure  are  of 
large  dressed  granite  blocks.  Above  these  the 
walls  are  made  of  sun-dried  bricks,  about  four 


CHING-LUNG  CHIAO,  CHINA. 
The  Great  Wall. 


CHINA  53 


times  the  size  of  one  of  our  bricks,  and  very 
heavy.  A  Chinaman  took  three  of  these  huge 
bricks  with  him,  saying  he  wanted  them  for 
his  garden  in  Canton.  He  was  dressed  in 
European  clothes,  but  his  companion  wore  a 
gorgeous  costume  of  heavy  brocaded  silk. 
The  pajama-like  trousers  were  light  lavender 
in  color,  the  coat  a  dark  blue,  and  the  sleeve- 
less jacket  over  that  a  plum  black. 

At  Peking  and  throughout  the  northern  part 
of  China  the  pig-tail  was  very  much  in 
evidence.  At  Shanghai  it  was  rarer,  and  in 
Hong  Kong  and  Canton  it  had  practically  dis- 
appeared. It  is  the  symbol  of  the  Manchu 
dynasty,  and  the  absence  of  it  in  the  South 
seems  to  show  that  the  Republic  is  more 
popular  there  than  it  is  in  the  North. 

The  trip  from  Peking  to  Hankow  by  rail 
is  a  fascinating  one  through  the  heart  of 
China.  Strangely,  ^he  management  of  the 
road  is  French- — even  the  time-tables  are 
published  in  French.  The  trip  takes  forty 
hours  on  a  special  train  running  once  a  week. 

On  arriving  at  Hankow  I  jumped  in  a  rick- 
shaw (resembling  the  Japanese  jinrikisha,  but 
heavy  and  clumsy),  and  told  the  coolie  to  take 
me  to  the  Terminus  Hotel.  He  looked  blank, 
but  started  off  at  full  speed  —  running  for  at 
least  fifteen  minutes.  By  this  time  I  had  be- 
come fully  convinced  that  he  did  not  know 
where  I  wanted  to  go,  but  as  I  knew  of  no 


54       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

way  to  tell  him,  I  thought  it  best  to  let  him 
continue.  Finally  we  stopped  in  front  of  a 
fine  white  house  set  well  back  among  the  trees, 
but  without  a  sign  of  any  kind.  I  felt  sure 
it  was  not  the  hotel,  but  approached  a  short 
energetic  young  Englishman  descending  the 
path,  and  said: 

"  Pardon  me,  but  is  this  the  Terminus 
Hotel  ?" 

It  did  not  take  long  to  see  that  I  had  made 
a  grievous  mistake.  His  eyes  flashed,  and  he 
drew  himself  up  very  dramatically  and  in- 
dignantly exclaimed: 

"  No !     This  is  the  British  Consulate." 

Not  till  I  reached  the  hotel  did  I  realize 
the  magnitude  of  my  crime ! 

A  short  stay  here  sufficed  to  see  the  Bund 
—  a  street  running  along  the  edge  of  the  Yang- 
tse-kiang  —  and  the  other  sights  of  the  town. 
Boarding  a  Chinese  boat  named  the  "  Sai-wo" 
we  sailed  down  the  river  for  two  days  to 
Nanking.  At  Kiu-kiang  the  boat  stopped  for 
four  hours,  giving  a  splendid  chance  to  visit 
this  squalid  Chinese  town.  A  boy  who  spoke 
English  a  little  —  a  very  little  —  constituted 
himself  my  guide,  and  led  me  to  some  of  the 
temples.  They  were  not  interesting,  but  the 
life  of  the  people  was  very  much  so.  Once, 
in  a  street  running  between  two  high  walls, 
I  almost  stumbled  on  a  leper.  He  had  cast 
himself  on  the  ground  in  the  narrowest  part 


CHINA  55 


of  the  street,  and  his  great  open  sores,  ter- 
rible deformities,  and  whining  pleas  were  all 
equally  horrible. 

Continuing  down  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  it  was 
amusing  to  see  the  Chinese  board  our  boat 
from  little  craft  waiting  in  the  river,  while  we 
were  still  in  motion.  The  excitement  ran  high 
at  times,  but  large  cargoes,  both  of  passengers 
and  freight,  were  changed  amidstream  with- 
out mishap. 

The  shore  north  of  the  river  was  a  dull 
flat  plain  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  —  in 
great  contrast  to  the  southern  shore,  which 
was  very  mountainous,  the  mountains  often 
extending  to  the  edge  of  the  river. 

At  Nanking  the  carriage  drivers  have  a  bat- 
tle over  every  passenger,  and  it  was  with  dif- 
ficulty I  finally  procured  one  and  reached  the 
Bridge  House  Hotel.  This  little  hotel,  though 
very  unpretentious,  was  remarkably  clean,  and 
the  food  good. 

Nanking  was  formerly  a  huge  city,  with  a 
wall  nearly  as  long  as  that  of  Peking.  But 
now  the  greater  part  of  the  ground  within 
the  wall  is  farm  land  or  forest.  The  little  that 
is  left  of  the  city  is  huddled  at  one  end,  about 
five  miles  from  the  hotel. 

Here  the  old  examination  halls  are  still 
standing  —  they  have  been  destroyed  at  Pe- 
king and  Canton  —  and  I  was  very  glad  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  them.     It  is  only  a  matter  of 


56      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

a  short  time  before  these  will  be  destroyed 
also.  The  halls  consist  of  thousands  of  tiny 
cells  arranged  in  rows,  with  a  large  central 
tower  for  watchers.  The  cells  are  only  about 
two  feet  square,  and  have  two  shelves,  one 
for  a  seat  and  the  other  for  a  desk.  Twenty- 
five  thousand  people  could  be  examined  at 
once.  It  is  said  that  they  were  sealed  in  these 
tiny  rooms  for  days,  and  if  a  death  occurred 
—  as  not  infrequently  happened  —  it  was  nec- 
essary to  break  down  the  wall  to  remove  the 
body. 

Walking  on  the  old  wall,  I  saw  in  the  fields 
below  a  boy  in  a  filthy  pool  of  water,  hunting 
for  lotus  root  with  his  feet.  On  finding  a 
root  he  would  dive  down  in  this  slimy  water, 
remain  submerged  for  alarming  periods  at 
times,  and  then  would  come  up  puffing  and 
blowing,  the  root  in  his  hand. 

Here  also  I  met  two  soldiers,  who  led  me, 
though  we  could  not  communicate  by  speech, 
through  the  fields  to  their  camp.  A  sign  near 
it  said: 

"  NO   ADMITTANCE.       HERE   IS    MAGAZINE." 

but  they  led  on ;  so  I  followed.  At  the  "  maga- 
zine M  I  met  more  soldiers  who  inspected  me 
carefully,  examining  my  camera  and  clothes. 
They  offered  me  tea  to  drink,  which  I  had  to 
accept,  though  it  was  far  from  tempting.     To 


CHINA  57 


be  frank,  I  think  I  afforded  them  as  much 
amusement  as  they  did  me. 

At  Shanghai,  though  it  is  a  beautiful  city, 
there  is  comparatively  little  for  the  tourist  to 
see,  if  he  is  looking  for  Chinese  life  and  cus- 
toms. But  if  one  had  to  live  in  the  East, 
Shanghai  must  be  very  attractive.  The  best 
English  newspaper  in  the  East  is  published 
here,  and  you  are  in  constant  touch  with 
Europe  and  America.  Shanghai  has  one 
famous  sight,  though  —  the  largest  bar  in  the 
world ! 

The  adjacent  Chinese  part  of  the  city  is 
very  interesting,  and  a  trip  through  the  streets 
with  their  ivory,  wood,  and  other  shops  is 
well  worth  while. 

Taking  the  "  Bulow"  to  Hong  Kong,  in 
three  days  we  entered  that  beautiful  harbor. 
The  city  of  Victoria  —  Hong  Kong  being 
really  the  name  of  the  island  —  rises  from  the 
water's  edge  on  terrace  after  terrace  until  the 
famous  "  Peak "  is  reached.  This  peak, 
though  not  very  high,  has  a  funicular  road 
leading  to  the  top,  and  commands  a  splendid 
view  of  the  harbor  and  surroundings  of  Hong 
Kong.  In  summer  it  is  used  as  a  place  of 
residence  by  the  foreigners  in  Hong  Kong. 

Canton  is  a  few  hours'  journey  up  the  Pearl 
River.  It  presents  typical  Chinese  life  —  the 
kind  that  you  expected  to  see  before  you  left 


58      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

home,  and  failed  to  find  in  Peking.  Here  is  a 
very  kaleidoscope  of  colors.  The  streets  are 
narrow,  with  many  steps:  the  houses  are  for 
the  most  part  two  stories  high,  with  forbid- 
ding walls,  but  occasionally  an  open  door  gives 
a  vista  of  an  attractive  garden  within.  Most 
of  the  streets  are  lined  with  tiny  shops,  which 
sell  almost  everything.  Great  gaudy  banners 
of  all  colors,  a  foot  wide  and  yards  long,  with 
Chinese  characters,  hang  from  the  upper 
stories.  On  bright  days  the  street  is  spotted 
and  flecked  with  sunshine,  and  the  coloring  is 
fascinating.  One  sees  all  kinds  of  Chinese  — 
men  in  gorgeous  robes,  others  in  plain  ones, 
and  coolies  stripped  to  the  waist,  their  brown 
arms  and  necks  glistening  in  the  occasional 
sunbeam.  All  are  eager,  all  busy,  all  quick 
without  undue  haste.  Women  there  are  too, 
but  by  no  means  as  many.  I  had  expected  a 
gloomy,  forbidding  people  of  threatening  as- 
pect —  instead  I  found  a  happy,  smiling  peo- 
ple, content  in  their  own  way  of  life,  but 
mightily  curious  about  yours.  The  narrow 
streets  and  many  steps  prevent  the  use  of  car- 
riages or  even  of  rickshaws;  so  sedan  chairs 
carried  by  four  to  six  coolies  have  to  be  used 
if  you  do  not  care  to  walk.  It  was,  to  me,  by 
far  the  most  fascinating  of  the  Chinese  cities. 
The  Shameen  is  the  foreign  residence  sec- 
tion of  Canton.  On  an  island  connected  with 
the  city  by  two  guarded  bridges  rise  foreign 


CHINA  59 


buildings  in  a  delightful  setting  of  semi- 
tropical  trees  and  shrubs.  The  Bund  here, 
with  its  beautiful  overhanging  shade  trees  on 
the  water's  edge,  is  most  attractive.  On  the 
side  toward  Canton  is  an  "  entanglement "  of 
barbed  wire,  and  sand-bag  barriers  are  in  some 
of  the  principal  streets.  They  make  one  real- 
ize that  while  all  may  seem  peaceful  and  quiet, 
the  resident  foreigners  are  always  ready  to  be 
on  the  defensive  if  necessary.  On  returning 
a  stop  was  made  at  the  Portuguese  settlement 
of  Macao.  Won  by  the  Portuguese  while  at 
the  height  of  their  power,  and  commercially 
still  valuable,  it  has  degenerated  to  a  gambling 
and  opium  den.  The  boat  arrived  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  Chinese 
made  a  terrible  noise  while  disembarking. 
Thoroughly  aroused,  I  could  not  get  to  sleep, 
and  finally  decided  to  dress  and  visit  the  town, 
though  it  was  nearly  three.  Facing  the  boat 
was  a  three-story  building  covered  with  elec- 
tric lights,  and  there  were  many  like  it  in  other 
streets.  These  were  all  gambling  halls,  and 
it  was  interesting  to  watch  the  Chinese  in 
them.  At  Macao  are  opium  factories  also. 
The  drug  has  been  excluded  from  China,  but 
the  Chinese  can  come  here  and  get  it. 

Macao  is  beautifully  situated,  and  in  the 
daytime  has  a  quaint  old-world  charm,  like  a 
breath  from  a  fragrant  garden.  It  is  so  ab- 
solutely different  from  the  Chinese  cities  you 


60      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

have  been  visiting,  that  it  is  a  great  surprise. 
It  seems  more  as  if  you  were  in  Portugal  than 
China,  and  the  Portuguese  policemen  add  to 
the  illusion.  All  that  is  left  standing  of  the 
old  Cathedral  is  the  fagade,  and  a  flight  of 
massive  stone  steps.  This  faqade  shows  an 
incongruous  combination  of  Renaissance  archi- 
tecture with  Chinese  symbols.  But  at  night- 
fall the  charm  of  Macao  is  dissipated,  and  it 
becomes  again  a  den  of  gambling  and  vice. 
Shopping  in  Hong  Kong  and  Canton  is  a 
great  pleasure,  but  here  is  a  timely  word, 
copied  verbatim,  from  a  guide  book: 

HINTS  ON  SELECTING  AND  PURCHASING 

This  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  experiences  of 
the  visitor  to  this  City  of  curio  shops  where,  owing 
to  the  perfect  novelty  of  the  scene  sudden  flights  of 
reason  are  at  times  apt  to  leave  fancy  sole  mistress  of 
the  situation,  and,  through  her  inaptitude  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities, one  discovers  too  late,  how  much  bet- 
ter bargains  might  have  been  made. 


Chapter  V 

MANILA 

The  Yellow  Sea  is  one  of  the  roughest  bodies 
of  water  on  the  globe,  and  the  trip  from  Hong 
Kong  to  Manila  and  back  had  long  been 
dreaded.  I  had  to  take  a  tiny  boat  —  the 
"  Tean " ;  on  a  large  boat  the  trip  is  bad 
enough  —  on  a  small  one  it  is  absolute  misery. 

A  few  hours  before  reaching  Manila  the 
boat  stopped  at  Merivales,  to  leave  the  steer- 
age passengers.  As  there  had  been  consider- 
able cholera  in  China,  they  were  compelled 
to  remain  here  a  week  before  being  allowed 
to  enter  the  islands.  As  soon  as  they  landed 
they  and  their  belongings  were  fumigated,  and 
it  was  amusing  to  see  the  Chinese  get  back 
into  their  clothes,  their  pig-tails  untied  and 
hanging  down  their  backs. 

Manila  is  not  an  old  Filipino  village,  but 
was  built  by  the  Spaniards.  The  walls  en- 
close a  space  of  about  two  square  miles,  and 
this  part  of  town  is  called  "  Intramuros,"  or 
the  walled  city.  The  houses  are  well  built, 
and  the  streets  clean.  There  are  no  less  than 
ten  cathedrals  here,  all  of  them  old,  and  some 
quite  beautiful.  The  wall  has  been  broken 
down  in  places,  to  make  wider  entrances  to 
61 


62      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

the  town,  and  to  admit  trolleys.  Formerly 
there  was  a  moat  outside  the  walls,  but  this 
has  been  rilled  in,  and  part  of  it  made  into  a 
broad  boulevard.  The  walls,  with  an  oc- 
casional sentry  box  jutting  out  from  them,  are 
very  picturesque,  and  form  one  of  the  strik- 
ing features  of  Manila. 

Just  outside  the  walls  is  the  Luneta,  a  large 
open  parkway.  Band  concerts  are  given  here 
almost  every  evening  at  sunset,  and  great 
crowds,  composed  of  all  classes,  come  here  at 
that  time  to  hear  the  music  and  have  a  little 
social  intercourse  after  the  heat  of  the  day. 
The  new  Manila  hotel  stands  on  one  side  of 
the  Luneta,  and  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  on 
the  other. 

From  the  Luneta  a  broad  avenue  lined  with 
beautiful  trees  leads  past  the  walled  city  to 
the  Pasig  River.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
river  is  the  distinctly  business  section  of  the 
town.  The  river  itself  is  filled  with  odd  craft, 
many  of  them  being  house  boats,  and  each  one 
has  a  vociferous  rooster  on  its  roof. 

The  natives  of  Manila  seem  to  have  a  large 
percentage  of  Spanish  blood.  The  girls  have 
pretty  coloring,  and  wear  brightly  colored 
waists  of  stiff  grass  cloth,  with  enormous 
sleeves.  The  men  wear  a  pa  jama-like  coat 
that  looks  most  cool  and  comfortable  to  the 
collared  foreigner. 

The  heat  was  intense  in  the  daytime,  but 


MANILA,  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS. 

Street    Scenes. 


MANILA  63 


after  the  extreme  cold  of  Shanghai  it  was  very 
welcome.  But  it  did  not  tend  to  make  one 
energetic;  and  as  I  had  been  traveling  pretty 
strenuously  I  decided  to  take  matters  more 
easily  here. 

The  main  beast  of  burden  is  the  carabao, 
or  water  buffalo.  They  are  large,  lumbering 
creatures  and  move  slowly,  but  are  everywhere 
used. 

It  is  very  common  here  to  see  a  man  walk- 
ing along  the  street  carrying  a  rooster,  for 
cock-fighting  is  the  great  sport  of  the  country. 
The  fights  are  held  in  round  buildings  of  fair 
size,  with  a  small  arena  in  the  center,  and 
seats  rising  in  circles  around  it.  One  section 
of  these  seats  is  reserved  for  the  Chinese. 
Cruel-looking  razor-edged  blades  are  fastened 
to  the  rooster's  gaff,  and  after  the  bets  are 
placed  the  fight  begins.  While  the  waits  be- 
tween rounds  are  long,  the  rounds  themselves 
are  usually  short.  They  are  over  so  quickly 
that  there  is  little  pleasure  in  watching  them, 
for  it  seems  more  like  a  butcher  shop  than  a 
sport.     But  the  natives  show  great  enthusiasm. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  things  in  Manila 
is  a  drill  to  be  witnessed  every  day  at  Bilibid 
Prison.  In  the  center  of  the  prison  is  a 
covered  stand,  with  the  various  buildings 
radiating  from  it.  All  the  prisoners  —  about 
twenty-eight  thousand  when  I  was  there  —  can 
be  seen  from  this  stand  at  the  time  of  the 


64      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

drill.  To  the  music  of  a  prison  band  —  which 
played  remarkably  well  —  they  marched  in 
fours  from  their  respective  buildings.  Sud- 
denly the  band  played  "  The  Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  and  the  entire  body  of  men  saluted 
while  the  flag  was  being  lowered.  It  was 
strangely  impressive.  After  the  salute  they 
went  through  various  calisthenic  exercises, 
and  then  formed  again  and  marched  past  the 
kitchen,  each  man  receiving  beef  stew  and  a 
mess  of  rice. 

On  Hallowe'en  an  all-night  ceremony  is 
held  at  Paco  cemetery.  In  this  cemetery  the 
dead  are  not  buried  in  the  ground,  but  are 
placed  in  niches  in  the  thick  double  walls 
which  surround  it.  The  relatives  of  the  de- 
ceased keep  watch  near  the  tomb  all  night. 
Many  and  strange  were  the  decorations.  The 
whole  place  was  brilliantly  lighted  by  elec- 
tricity. But  the  ceremony  seemed  to  be  de- 
generating into  a  holiday  merry-making  fes- 
tival. 

On  the  trip  up  the  Pasig  River  and  through 
Lake  Laguna  to  Los  Bafios  one  passes  many 
interesting  native  villages.  The  houses  are 
made  of  nipa,  thatched,  and  many  of  them 
stand  on  bamboo  poles.  At  one  village  a  boy 
boarded  the  boat  selling  hard-boiled  eggs.  I 
bought  one,  but  I  did  not  eat  it.  An  unde- 
veloped chicken  had  almost  complete  posses- 
sion of  the  interior !     Later  I  learned  that  this 


MANILA  65 


is  called  an  "  old  egg,"  and  is  considered  a 
great  delicacy  by  the  Filipino.  Los  Bafiyos 
is  noted  for  its  hot  sulphur  baths. 

But  no  description  of  Manila  would  be  com- 
plete without  a  mention  of  its  glorious  sunsets. 
Imagine  yourself  on  the  Luneta  at  sundown, 
a  gentle  breeze  coming  in  from  the  bay.  In 
the  distance  the  band  is  playing.  The  sky  is 
a  marvelous  red  that  is  reflected  in  the  waters 
of  the  bay.  Toward  the  right  and  left  distant 
lofty  palms  are  silhouetted  against  the  bril- 
liant coloring  of  the  sky,  while  directly  in  front 
may  come  a  stray  light  from  the  island  of 
Corregidor.  Slowly  the  red  turns  to  a  deep 
orange,  and  then  the  sun  sinks  behind  the 
horizon  in  a  burst  of  golden  glory.  Surely 
these  sunsets  are  the  islands'  greatest  beauty. 


Chapter  VI 

SINGAPORE  AND  JAVA 

It  took  four  days  on  the  "  Prinz  Eitel"  to 
go  from  Hong  Kong  to  Singapore.  Here  you 
come  in  contact  with  a  black  race;  and  dirty, 
skinny,  ugly  people  do  they  look  at  first,  after 
the  clean,  small,  but  well-proportioned  Chinese. 
Not  that  the  Chinese  are  left  behind  now  —  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  very  much  in  evidence, 
especially  as  rickshaw  runners.  But  from 
here  on  you  see  them  in  decreasing  numbers, 
and  it  is  with  regret  that  you  see  them  pass. 

The  population  of  Singapore  is  very  mixed. 
Malays  and  Chinese  predominate,  but  natives 
from  all  parts  of  India,  Ceylon,  Java  and  Siam 
are  often  seen. 

Although  Singapore  is  within  two  degrees 
of  the  equator  it  is  not  so  hot  as  might  be 
expected,  and  the  climate  varies  little.  In  this 
it  has  the  advantage  of  the  cities  of  India. 
Its  public  buildings  are  substantial  and  im- 
posing, and  "  Raffles  Square  "  and  other  parts 
of  the  city  are  attractive.  The  inevitable  Eng- 
lish botanical  garden  is  present,  but  cannot 
compare  with  the  gardens  of  Java  or  Ceylon. 

The  carabao  of  Manila  is  here  displaced  by 
the  zebu,  with  its  peculiar  hump  and  twisted 
66 


SINGAPORE  AND  JAVA  67 

horns,  which  the  natives  often  paint  in  bright 
colors. 

The  market,  with  its  native  fruits  and  other 
products,  and  its  native  salesmen  was  worth  a 
visit.  In  a  big  wicker  basket  I  noticed  a 
chicken  that  was  having  a  glorious  time  peck- 
ing at  all  its  mates.  The  owner  noticed  it  too, 
and  nonchalantly  lifted  the  chick  from  the 
basket,  broke  its  lower  bill  with  his  thumb, 
and  threw  it  back. 

A  short  train  trip  through  large  rubber 
plantations  brings  one  to  the  little  principality 
of  Johore,  where  one  can  visit  the  palace  of  the 
reigning  prince.  He  was  educated  abroad, 
and  his  palace  is  a  curious  mixture  of  foreign 
and  native  ideas. 

At  the  hotels  the  beds  are  remarkable,  in 
that  they  have  only  a  lower  sheet,  with  no 
cover  of  any  kind,  unless  the  "  Dutch  Wife  " 
can  be  so  considered.  It  is  a  soft  round 
bolster-like  object  about  four  feet  long,  and 
lies  lengthwise  on  the  bed,  but  the  manner  of 
utilizing  it  is  rather  perplexing,  and  remains 
ever  a  mystery  to  the  tourist.  The  bath-room 
has  a  huge  jardiniere  for  a  tub,  about  four  feet 
across  and  correspondingly  deep,  which  is  filled 
with  water.  But  do  not  make  the  mistake  of 
trying  to  get  into  it  —  you  must  simply  splash 
water  from  it  over  yourself  with  the  aid  of  a 
small  tin  bucket. 

The  u  Reijniersz  " —  these  Dutch  names  are 


68      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

almost  as  unpronounceable  as  the  Russian  — 
took  but  two  days  to  go  from  Singapore  to 
Tanjand-Priok,  the  port  of  Batavia  in  Java. 
At  Batavia  the  heat  was  intense,  but  further 
back  in  the  mountains  it  was  very  comfortable. 
During  the  week  I  was  in  Java  —  and  that  is 
by  no  means  long  enough  for  this  interesting 
island  —  it  rained  constantly  for  the  first  four 
days,  but  by  mistake  gave  three  fairly  clear 
days  after  that.  It  always  rains  in  Java  — 
not  showers,  but  heavy  downpours  —  except 
perhaps  during  the  month  of  May. 

Batavia  is  divided  into  two  parts.  The 
southern  part  is  the  business  section,  and  the 
northern  part,  called  Weltvreden,  is  the  resi- 
dential section.  Through  the  middle  of  the 
city,  on  the  main  street,  runs  a  canal,  supposed 
to  resemble  those  of  Holland  —  for  Java,  of 
course,  has  long  been  under  the  control  of 
the  Dutch.  In  these  canals  the  natives  bathe, 
and  wash  their  horses  and  their  clothes. 
Little  one-horse  carriages,  in  which  the  pas- 
senger has  to  sit  riding  backward,  abound. 
They  are  easy  to  get  in  and  out  of,  and  are 
cheap,  even  if  they  are  not  particularly  com- 
fortable. 

Buitenzorg  is  a  short  train  ride  from 
Weltvreden.  Here  are  the  famous  botanical 
gardens,  said  to  be  the  finest  in  the  world, 
and  especially  noted  for  their  collection  of 
orchids.     The  gardens  were  lovely,   and  the 


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> 

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SINGAPORE  AND  JAVA  69 

trees  and  tree-ferns  magnificent,  but  apprecia- 
tion was  dulled  by  steady,  heavy  rain.  Here 
a  boy  brought  me  a  leaf  —  I  glanced  at  it  but 
saw  nothing  unusual.  As  he  persisted  I 
looked  at  it  again,  and  found  that  it  was  not 
a  leaf  at  all,  but  an  insect  —  a  perfect  repro- 
duction of  a  leaf.  The  hotel  here  is  beauti- 
fully situated  on  a  cliff  near  the  river,  but  we 
had  to  take  the  view  on  faith,  as  it  was  com- 
pletely hidden  by  the  rain. 

At  luncheon  they  served  a  "  rice  tabled 
This  is  a  dish  famous  in  Java,  and  it  con- 
stitutes a  whole  meal.  A  deep  soup  plate  is 
placed  in  front  of  you,  and  then  various  edi- 
bles are  passed  in  bewildering  succession.  I 
can  by  no  means  remember  all  the  dishes  — 
there  must  have  been  over  thirty  —  but  some 
of  them  were  hash  balls,  preserves,  poached 
eggs,  curry,  jam,  shrimps  and  other  fish, 
"  Irish  "  stew,  and  chicken,  fried,  boiled  and 
fricasseed!  The  resultant  concoction  was  re- 
markable, but  it  was  also  very  good. 

At  Garoet  the  bad  weather  continued,  and 
prevented  me  from  taking  the  "  Papandayan  " 
trip,  the  crater  of  one  of  the  volcanoes  with 
which  the  island  abounds.  But  I  did  not  see 
a  single  volcano  while  in  Java,  on  account  of 
the  low  clouds. 

At  a  native  theater  here  the  actors  wore 
huge  masks  much  like  the  faces  made  fa- 
miliar by  their  drawings  and  carvings.     The 


70      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

"  dancing H  was  mostly  posturing,  with 
elaborate  arm  and  finger  motions,  and  a  little 
rather  vulgar  by-play  among  the  clowns  com- 
pleted the  performance. 

While  at  Garoet  a  large  market  was  held, 
and  it  gave  an  unusual  opportunity  to  study 
the  natives.  The  women  wear  sarongs,  pieces 
of  cloth  about  three  by  eight  feet,  and  sewed 
together  at  the  ends.  These  have  elaborately 
wrought  designs,  all  done  by  hand,  and  are 
dyed  deep  shades  of  brown,  orange,  and  red, 
and  sometimes  of  blue.  The  men  wear 
sarongs  that  are  not  sewed  together,  and  have 
on  their  heads  turbans  made  out  of  square 
pieces  of  cloth  of  similar  color  and  design. 
It  is  interesting  to  see  these  sarongs  being 
designed.  The  women  are  artists,  and  draw 
most  elaborate  designs  free  hand. 

One  of  the  native  musical  instruments  is 
made  of  bamboo,  and  is  very  crude.  But  as 
played  by  a  band  of  boys,  each  holding  two 
of  these  instruments  of  different  sizes  and 
tones,  the  effect  is  quite  musical,  even  if  a 
small  one  by  itself  does  sound  like  a  tinkling 
ice-water  pitcher. 

At  the  hotel  one  of  my  eggs  was  bad  — 
there  was  no  doubt  about  it.  The  manager 
apologized  for  it  afterwards,  by  saying:  "I 
am  sorry  that  the  egg  was  not  very  well." 

The  trip  from  Garoet  to  Djokjakarta  took 
all  day.     No  trains  travel  at  night  in  Java,  and 


SINGAPORE  AND  JAVA  71 

no  matter  in  what  part  of  the  island  you  are 
the  train  you  must  take  starts  at  daybreak. 
At  one  station  it  was  necessary  to  add  another 
car  to  our  train.  They  uncoupled  the  last 
car,  but  no  one  had  put  on  the  brakes,  and  it 
rolled  down  the  track  for  three  miles.  It  took 
over  an  hour  to  get  that  wandering  car  back. 

The  most  distinctive  feature  of  the  land- 
scape are  the  rice  fields.  They  extend  in  all 
directions,  not  only  in  the  valleys,  but  also 
climbing  the  mountain  in  picturesque  terraces, 
some  of  which  are  only  a  foot  or  two  wide. 
Rice  can  only  grow  in  water,  and  the  sparkle 
of  the  water,  the  new  green  shoots  of  the  rice, 
the  extensive  terraces,  and  the  luxurious  tropi- 
cal jungles  form  the  greater  part  of  the  beauty 
of  the  scenery  of  the  island. 

Near  Djokjakarta  —  or  Dojkja,  as  it  is 
usually  called  —  are  the  ruins  of  the  temple 
of  Prambanan.  The  temples  though  small, 
are  distinctive,  and  are  covered  with  carvings 
that  show  a  high  degree  of  artistic  ability. 

Returning  from  Prambanan  by  auto,  a 
broken  bridge  halted  us.  We  crossed  it  safely 
on  foot,  and  then  had  to  go  to  a  near-by  house 
to  telephone  for  another  vehicle.  It  proved 
to  be  the  home  of  a  wealthy  sugar  planter, 
who  received  us  cordially.  A  servant  brought 
out  cigars  and  refreshments,  and  kneeled  to 
each  one  of  us  as  he  offered  them,  as  every 
well-trained  Javanese  must. 


J2       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

The  question  of  the  treatment  of  the  na- 
tives by  a  conquering  nation  is  too  big  to  be 
discussed  here,  but  the  Dutch  seem  to  have 
solved  it  successfully.  The  natives  are  well 
treated  and  have  a  share  in  the  government, 
but  are  constantly  reminded  that  they  are  an 
inferior  race,  who  must  show  obedience  and 
respect  to  their  conquerors.  The  Far-East- 
erners are  much  like  children  —  where  they 
are  kindly  but  firmly  treated  they  show  the 
greatest  respect  for  their  "  parents."  The 
policy  of  equality  introduced  by  Americans  in 
the  Philippines  —  although  absolutely  correct 
according  to  American  principles  —  is  entirely 
unfit  for  these  people,  as  yet.  Perhaps  some 
day  they  may  "  grow  up,"  but  they  will  surely 
be  spoilt  children  if  present  conditions  con- 
tinue. 

The  Sultan's  palace  at  Djokja  is  disappoint- 
ing, in  that  the  beautiful  native  industries  of 
the  island  are  largely  ignored,  and  the  rooms 
are  furnished  with  Early  Victorian  orna- 
ments—  perhaps  of  great  value  but  certainly 
of  doubtful  beauty.  Some  of  the  rooms  of 
the  palace  furnished  throughout  in  native  style 
were  attractive.  The  Sultan  is  extremely  fond 
of  cock-fighting,  and  has  about  a  hundred 
game  cocks.  Each  of  these  has  its  personal 
attendant,  and  it  is  amusing  to  watch  a  lot  of 
self-important   game    cocks    strutting   around 


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SINGAPORE  AND  JAVA  73 

the  grounds  with  a  native  boy  following  each 
of  them. 

Boro-boedoer  is  a  massive  ruin  near  Djokja, 
and  the  most  interesting  building  on  the  island. 
It  was  built  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century, 
when  Java  was  under  control  of  the  Buddhists. 
It  covers  as  much  ground  as  the  Great 
Pyramid  of  Gizeh.  It  is  a  low  stepped 
pyramid,  the  steps  forming  four  or  five  wide 
balconies  extending  on  all  sides  of  the  struc- 
ture. These  are  decorated  with  ornamental 
balustrades:  and  the  whole  stonework  — 
almost  every  inch  of  it,  is  decorated  in  low 
bas-reliefs  depicting  scenes  from  the  life  of 
Buddha.  The  architecture  and  carvings  show 
the  very  advanced  civilization  of  that  day. 
Surmounting  the  structure  is  a  bell-shaped 
dagoba  that  is  surrounded  by  smaller  dagobas 
of  heavy  open  stone  work,  in  each  of  which 
can  be  seen  a  statue  of  Buddha.  On  each  side 
of  the  structure  is  a  stairway  leading  to  the 
top.  The  stone  is  a  dark  gray,  adding  to  the 
dignity  and  impressiveness  of  the  building. 

Returning  to  Djokja,  I  was  attracted  by  a 
large  crowd  on  the  street.  Joining  them,  and 
waiting  for  a  long  while,  I  was  finally  re- 
warded by  a  view  of  a  native  wedding.  It 
was  a  long  procession.  The  first  carriage  was 
on  the  order  of  a  victoria.  It  was  gaily 
decorated,  and  was  drawn  by  four  horses.     In 


74      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

the  back  sat  the  bride  and  groom,  who  did 
not  seem  to  feel  any  keen  enjoyment  over  the 
proceedings.  The  bride's  neck,  arms  and 
shoulders  were  bare,  and  were  painted  a  bright 
yellow.  She  had  an  elaborately  bejeweled 
headdress,  with  large  earrings.  The  groom 
was  stripped  to  the  waist,  and  all  the  exposed 
flesh  was  painted  a  darker  yellow.  He  had 
elaborate  earrings,  and  a  gorgeous  skirt.  On 
the  seat  facing  them  sat  an  elderly  woman  with 
two  small  children.  The  procession  consisted 
of  thirty  or  more  carriages,  filled  with  guests 
in  their  wedding  finery.  It  kept  passing  up 
and  down  the  main  street  for  some  time.  I 
asked  the  object  of  this,  and  was  told  it  was 
simply  to  advertise  the  marriage. 

A  hasty  trip  back  to  Batavia,  and  then  on 
to  Singapore  again.  Here  I  had  to  wait  a  few 
days  before  leaving  for  the  north  —  days 
which  I  should  rather  have  spent  in  Java,  but 
the  sailing  dates  would  not  allow  it. 


Chapter  VII 

FROM  SINGAPORE  TO  CALCUTTA 

The  chief  excitement  of  the  trip  from  Singa- 
pore to  Rangoon  on  the  a  Torilla "  was  a 
waterspout.  Though  far  away,  it  could  be 
plainly  seen,  a  long,  bending,  swerving  line  of 
water  joining  sea  and  sky. 

An  unusually  congenial  crowd  was  on 
board,  and  the  time  passed  quickly.  Among 
others  was  a  Mrs.  Butler  from  Boston,  and 
her  three  daughters,  who  might  have  posed 
for  the  originals  of  "  Pitti-sing,  Peep-bo,  and 
Yum-yum."  Later  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
traveling  with  them  all  through  northern 
India,  and  my  recollections  of  that  country  are 
tinged  with  double  enjoyment  from  this  pleas- 
ant companionship. 

The  stop  of  a  morning  at  Penang  allowed  us 
to  see  some  of  the  sights  there.  First  we 
visited  a  large  and  beautifully  situated 
Chinese  temple,  cleaner  and  more  beautiful 
than  any  we  had  seen  in  China.  It  had  nu- 
merous courts,  and  a  few  large  pools,  some 
of  which  contained  sacred  turtles,  and  others 
sacred  fish  whose  holiness  did  not  seem  to 
affect  their  appetite.  Next  we  went  to  the 
botanical  gardens,  and  these  were  quite  at- 
75 


76      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

tractive.  A  little  path  led  off  to  a  waterfall ; 
here  we  had  our  first  glimpse  of  wild  monkeys. 
On  the  fifth  day  the  "  Torilla"  reached 
Rangoon.  Here,  to  my  lasting  regret,  I  had 
but  two  days. 

The  Burmese  people  are  most  attractive. 
The  women,  with  their  pretty,  happy  faces, 
daintily  colored  dresses  and  absolute  freedom, 
remind  one  strongly  of  the  Japanese.  It  is 
amazing  to  see  these  dainty  women  smoking 
huge  black  cigars.  The  Buddhist  monk  is 
omnipresent,  his  orange  toga  making  him  con- 
spicuous. 

The  Shwe-Dagon  Pagoda  is  a  bell-shaped 
dagoba,  and  not  a  pagoda  at  all.  It  is  three 
hundred  and  seventy  feet  high,  and  rests  on 
a  rectangular  base  almost  half  as  high.  It 
is  entirely  covered  with  gold  leaf,  and  this, 
with  its  great  height,  makes  it  a  conspicuous 
and  beautiful  feature  of  the  landscape.  It  is 
the  oldest  and  most  venerated  of  the  Buddhist 
places  of  worship,  and  is  the  only  one  credited 
with  containing  relics  of  Gautauma  and  three 
of  the  Buddhas  who  preceded  him.  Around 
its  base,  on  the  platform,  are  innumerable 
small  temples  and  shrines.  A  few  of  them  are 
studded  with  millions  of  small  mirrors,  with 
columns  treated  in  the  same  way,  which  re- 
mind one  of  Coney  Island.  But  others  of 
them  are  very  beautiful,  and  show  especial 
excellence  in  their  wood  carvings. 


PENANG  AND  SINGAPORE. 
A  Water  Carrier,  with  the  Ever-present  Standard  Oil 
Can.     Penang.     Workmen,     Singapore.     A     Little 
Chinaman  at  the  Chinese  Temple,  Penang.     "Bak- 
sheesh,"  Penang. 


FROM  SINGAPORE  TO  CALCUTTA      77 

Seen  from  a  distance,  its  base  hidden  by- 
trees,  its  golden  spire  glistening  in  the  sun- 
light and  reflected  in  the  waters  of  a  little  lake, 
it  is  very  picturesque. 

Through  an  interpreter  I  spoke  with  sev- 
eral of  the  yellow-robed  monks.  They  asked 
me  many  searching  questions,  but  perhaps  the 
most  astounding  of  all  was  a  request  to  know 
if  the  President  of  the  United  States  was  a 
Buddhist. 

At  Insein  —  accent  the  first  syllable,  please 
—  is  a  Baptist  missionary  station,  which  has 
two  theological  seminaries  among  other  in- 
dustries. One  of  these  is  for  the  Karens 
alone,  and  had  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
students  registered.  My  visit  there  was  all 
too  short. 

Another  boat,  the  "  Aronda,"  had  to  be 
taken  from  Rangoon  to  Singapore,  and  nearly 
all  of  the  "  Torillafs  "  passengers  transferred 
to  it.  By  arising  at  five  in  the  morning  and 
poring  over  numerous  charts  I  at  last  found 
the  Southern  Cross.  It  is  a  small  but  bril- 
liant constellation;  in  this  latitude,  of  course, 
very  near  the  horizon. 

The  second  day  brought  us  to  Calcutta. 
Some  of  our  congenial  party  were  in  haste, 
and  were  anxious  to  go  directly  up  to  Darjeel- 
ing.  So  thirteen  of  us  decided  to  go  to  Dar- 
jeeling  that  afternoon,  though  it  left  us  but  two 
hours  to  get  money  and  tickets,  arrange  about 


78      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

baggage,  purchase  the  bedding  necessary  for 
the  trip,  and  catch  a  train  at  a  station  miles 
across  town.  Naturally  we  saw  little  of  Cal- 
cutta on  our  arrival! 


RANGOON,  BURMA. 

Temples  and  Shrines  at  the  Base  of  the  Shwe-Dagon 

Pagoda. 


Chapter  VIII 

INDIA 

Darjeeling  is  the  summer  resort  of  the 
foreign  residents  of  India.  In  December  it  is 
bitingly  cold.  The  hotel  was  frigid,  and  the 
tiny  grates  seemed  only  to  emphasize  the  cold- 
ness. But  all  discomforts  are  forgotten  after 
your  first  glimpse  of  Kinchin junga.  This 
mountain,  over  five  miles  high,  and  the  second 
highest  in  the  world,  is  but  forty  miles  away, 
and  the  view  of  it  from  Darjeeling  is  mag- 
nificent. 

Among  the  natives  here  are  many  Tibetans, 
who  resemble  in  color,  size  and  high  cheek 
bone  our  own  American  Indian.  It  takes 
three  or  four  of  them  to  pull  or  push  the 
rickshaws  over  the  hilly  paths,  and  the  shorter 
the  time  you  have  been  there  the  more  it 
takes,  for  they  have  learned  that  the  new- 
comer is  apt  to  be  sympathetic. 

One  of  the  regular  features  of  the  hotel  is 
a  Tibetan  dance,  given  in  the  evening.  The 
chief  dancer  was  a  small  boy  of  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  —  and  small  for  his  age  —  who  had 
on  a  yellow  dress  and  a  clown  mask.  His 
antics  and  caperings  were  really  remarkably 
clever  and  well  done.  The  dance  was  a  kind 
79 


80      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

of  parable,  the  diminutive  dancer  being  at- 
tacked by  dragons  and  horsemen  in  grotesque 
costumes.  It  did  not  seem  possible  that  that 
tiny  child  could  remember  all  the  work  he  had 
to  do. 

It  was  far  from  easy  to  get  up  in  the  biting 
cold  the  next  morning  at  a  quarter  past  three, 
in  order  to  go  to  Tiger  Hill  for  the  sunrise. 
Never  have  I  wanted  to  see  a  sunrise  less. 
But  a  party  of  us  got  started  finally,  some 
walking,  some  riding,  and  others  using  the 
sedan  chair,  carried  by  six  or  eight  Tibetans. 
For  most  of  the  six  miles  to  Tiger  Hill  the 
journey  was  in  pitch  darkness,  over  rough 
winding  paths,  and  it  was  certainly  weird. 
The  coolies  broke  the  monotony  by  singing 

—  one  man  singing  a  line  and  then  all  join- 
ing in  a  chorus  that  sounded  like  "  Hi  —  yi 

—  hi  —  alloy.  Yi  —  hi  —  yi  —  alloy."  Fi- 
nally it  grew  lighter,  and  shortly  after  arriving 
at  Tiger  Hill  the  sun  rose.  The  view  was 
marvelous,  extending  in  all  directions,  but  it 
was  not  for  that  alone  we  were  here  at  this 
hour.  At  sunrise  the  mists  break,  and  there 
is  the  possibility  of  seeing  Mount  Everest, 
the  highest  mountain  in  the  world,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-seven  miles  away.  A  loud 
shout  went  up  from  the  men  as  the  clouds 
parted,  and  in  the  dim  distance,  almost  hidden 
by  intervening  mountains,  was  a  tiny  cone 
that  we  were  told  was  Everest.     From  this 


INDIA  81 

distance  it  was  utterly  unimpressive,  and  we 
had  to  take  consolation  in  the  fact  that  we  had 
seen  it. 

Christmas  week  in  Calcutta  is  the  great 
social  season,  and  there  was  much  to  see  and 
do.  Christmas  day  —  which  had  been  rather 
dreaded  —  passed  very  delightfully,  for  al- 
though one  missed  old  friends  and  faces,  and 
the  whole  Christmas  atmosphere,  new  friends 
made  it  a  day  full  of  fun  and  merriment. 

Just  a  word  about  traveling  in  India.  The 
distances  are  great,  and  most  of  the  traveling 
must  be  done  at  night.  The  sleeping  cars 
are  divided  into  several  compartments  each 
of  which  can  accommodate  four  people.  Each 
compartment  has  its  private  lavatory  —  there 
is  no  public  passage.  The  trains  are  not  as 
clean  as  they  might  be.  The  berths  are  wide 
and  fairly  comfortable.  Of  course  you  must 
have  your  own  bedding,  and  it  is  in  the  man- 
agement of  your  baggage  and  this  bedding 
that  a  servant  is  really  useful.  It  is  perfectly 
possible  to  go  through  India  without  a  serv- 
ant —  don't  let  any  Englishman  convince  you 
to  the  contrary.  A  good  servant  is  a  great 
convenience  —  a  poor  one  is  worse  than  use- 
less. 

At  Benares  there  are  a  few  temples  and  a 
palace  to  be  seen,  but  the  trip  on  the  Ganges 
so  far  outweighs  them  in  interest  as  to  leave 
them  negligible.     The  native  part  of  the  town 


82       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

has  narrow  winding  streets,  and  is  indescrib- 
ably dirty.  The  Ganges  is  lined  on  one  side 
with  large  buildings  called  ghats  —  though  on 
the  opposite  bank  there  is  a  sand  waste,  with- 
out dwellings  or  verdure.  The  best  way  to  see 
these  ghats  is  from  the  roof  of  a  small  house 
boat,  rowed  slowly  up  and  down  the  stream. 
It  is  a  wonderful  picture.  The  ghats  them- 
selves are  magnificent  buildings,  standing  on 
a  broad  base  with  steps  leading  directly  into 
the  river.  Countless  natives,  many  of  them 
pilgrims  to  the  sacred  river  from  all  parts  of 
India,  in  all  imaginable  garbs,  stand  on  these 
steps.  Some  are  washing  themselves  in  the 
sacred  waters,  some  are  praying  to  the  sun, 
many  are  going  through  strange  motions  so 
intent  on  their  devotions  as  to  be  entirely 
oblivious  of  their  surroundings.  Huge  um- 
brellas are  everywhere,  adding  to  the  wonder- 
ful effects  of  light  and  shade.  Here  is  a  holy 
man,  his  body  covered  with  ashes;  here  a 
barber,  sitting  on  his  haunches,  shaving  his 
customer  in  the  middle  of  the  street ;  here  is 
a  snake  charmer,  with  a  basket  full  of  rep- 
tiles ;  and  here  are  washermen  beating  clothes 
on  the  flat  rocks,  and  laying  the  pieces  al- 
ready washed  on  the  ground  to  dry  in  the 
sun,  until  the  whole  shore  around  them  is 
covered. 

The  burning  ghat  is  usually  considered  the 
most  interesting  of  all.     Lucky  indeed  is  the 


INDIA  83 

Hindu  who  dies  in  Benares ;  for  then  his  ashes 
can  be  thrown  in  the  sacred  water  of  the 
Ganges.  As  our  boat  approached,  the  body 
of  a  man  —  later  we  were  told  it  was  that  of 
a  high  priest  —  lay  wrapped  to  the  chin  in 
white,  with  flowers  on  his  breast.  He  was 
lying  on  a  litter  resting  on  the  steps,  with  his 
feet  submerged  in  the  sacred  waters.  A  bar- 
ber was  shaving  him,  while  attendants  built 
the  pyre.  When  all  was  ready,  the  body  was 
lifted  to  the  pyre,  where  a  few  simple  cere- 
monies took  place.  Then  four  pots  of  fire 
were  placed  at  each  corner  of  the  pyre,  and 
it  was  further  ignited  by  long  pieces  of  burn- 
ing straw.  Slowly  it  burned,  but  fiercely. 
Later,  when  the  fire  burnt  out,  the  ashes  were 
to  be  scattered  over  the  Ganges. 

While  watching  the  funeral  of  the  priest, 
two  other  bodies  arrived  —  one  in  a  litter  — 
the  other,  that  of  a  young  girl  entirely  swathed 
in  red,  lay  in  a  small  boat  that  was  brought 
noiselessly  to  the  ghat  —  an  Oriental  Elaine. 

Unlike  most  tourists  we  did  not  stop  at 
Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  with  their  memories 
of  the  Mutiny,  but  continued  direct  to  Agra. 
Agra  —  the  city  of  the  Great  Moguls  —  of 
Akbar  and  of  Shah  Jehan.  The  Taj  Mahal 
is  the  undeniable  queen  of  all  India  —  perhaps 
of  the  world.  But  one  is  dumbfounded  at 
the  marvelous  and  exquisite  beauty  of  the 
other  buildings  of  Agra  —  beauty  which  would 


84      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

be  heralded  as  widely  were  it  not  for  the  pres- 
ence of  this  overshadowing  sister. 

Of  the  Taj  Mahal  itself  little  need  be  said. 
It  is  exquisite  —  it  is  perfect.  At  all  times, 
from  all  positions  of  vantage,  it  is  the  superb 
mistress  of  Agra.  There  was  one  surprise, 
and  that  was  the  absence  of  perforated  marble 
screen  work.  Of  this  the  Taj  has  none  — 
save  the  screen  in  the  interior  around  the 
tomb.  But  this  was  no  disappointment  —  the 
building  is  too  grandly  conceived  to  need  the 
dainty  fretwork  of  such  screens.  It  is  a 
glorious  monument  to  Love  —  would  it  be 
irreverent  to  wonder  if  Shah  Jehan  thought 
of  it  —  not  only  as  a  monument  to  the  woman 
he  loved  —  but  also  as  a  monument  to  himself 
—  to  his  own  constancy  and  affection? 

The  tomb  of  I'timad-ud-daulah  lies  a  little 
north  of  Agra.  He  was  a  councilor  of 
Jahangir's,  and  the  grandfather  of  the  lady 
of  the  Taj.  Its  beauty  lies  not  so  much  in 
its  architecture  and  proportions  as  in  the  ex- 
quisite daintiness  of  all  its  details.  The  en- 
tire exterior  is  one  mass  of  marble  inlay,  ex- 
cept for  the  marble  screens  in  the  window 
recesses.  It  has  been  called  a  huge  jewel 
casket  —  but  surely  that  does  not  do  it  jus- 
tice. It  is  a  fairy  palace,  an  expression  of 
delight,  with  no  thought  or  suggestion  of 
death,  but  rather  a  hope  of  immortality  far 
removed  from  Nirvana. 


AGRA,  INDIA. 

The  Tomb  of  I'timad-ud-daulah. 

A  Glimpse  of  the  Taj. 

Marble  Screen  in  the  Tomb  of  Salim  Chishti. 

Tomb  of  Salim  Chishti,  Fatehpur-Sikri. 


INDIA  85 


The  massive  castellated  battlements  of  the 
fort  at  Agra  give  no  hint  of  the  beauty  of 
some  of  the  apartments  within.  So  the 
Pearl  Mosque  is  something  of  a  surprise,  with 
its  large  white  marble  court  and  its  surround- 
ing arches,  but  it  is  only  the  beginning. 
There  are  many  other  beautiful  buildings, 
culminating  in  the  magnificent  Diwan-i-khas 
and  the  Saman-burg.  The  Diwan-i-khas,  or 
private  audience  hall,  is  a  one-story  structure 
of  white  marble,  the  fagade  a  row  of  Oriental 
arches,  delicately  carved  and  ornamented  with 
elaborate  inlays  of  semi-precious  stones.  The 
Saman-burg,  or  Jesamine  Burg,  were  the  pri- 
vate apartments  of  Shah  Jehan's  favorite  wife, 
the  lady  of  the  Taj.  Would  it  be  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  your  most  gorgeous  imaginings 
of  the  Arabian  Nights  could  not  exceed  the 
beauty  of  these  rooms?  A  mere  description 
gives  scant  idea  —  what  is  it  to  say  that  there 
is  an  octagonal  room  of  white  marble,  with  a 
balcony  on  one  side  and  an  entrance  porch 
on  the  other,  with  every  square  inch  of  wall, 
ceiling  and  floor  carved  or  inlaid  with  precious 
or  semi-precious  stones  of  every  hue,  the 
whole  making  a  paragon  of  light  and  shade,  of 
color  and  contrast,  of  grace  and  delicacy?  It 
is  the  dream  of  the  dilettante,  the  exquisite, 
the  sensualist,  the  poet  —  perfectly  realized 
in  marble. 

After  the  beauties  of  these  apartments  the 


86      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

remaining  buildings  in  the  fort  seem  unin- 
teresting. Built  of  red  sandstone,  with  mag- 
nificent carvings,  they  are  a  more  masculine 
expression  of  architecture,  but  they  lack  the 
over-powering  effect  possessed  by  the  other 
buildings. 

Akbar's  Tomb  at  Secundra  is  another  of  the 
mighty  monuments  of  Agra.  It  has  a  beauti- 
ful gateway,  but  the  mass  of  the  building  itself 
is  not  good.  Its  greatest  beauty  is  its 
perforated  marble  screen  work. 

At  Fatehpur  Sikri,  twenty  miles  away, 
stands  the  deserted  city  of  Akbar.  Built  in 
commemoration  of  a  vow,  he  and  his  court 
lived  here  for  a  few  years  but  were  compelled 
to  leave  it  by  a  pestilence  —  or  perhaps  by  lack 
of  water.  There  are  many  buildings,  all  of 
red  sandstone,  and  covered  with  exquisite  re- 
liefs. The  Dargah  Mosque  adjoins  a  large 
quadrangle  over  three  hundred  by  four  hun- 
dred feet  in  size.  It  is  built  entirely  of  red 
sandstone,  and  in  one  corner  stands  the  dargah 
or  tomb  of  Salim  Chishti  'made  entirely  of 
white  marble,  and  containing  more  exquisite 
marble  screens,  among  the  finest  of  all  India. 
Inside  the  tomb  is  a  magnificent  canopy,  the 
entire  surface  of  which  is  inlaid  with  mother 
of  pearl.  One  of  the  gateways  to  the  quad- 
rangle is  the  "  Gate  of  Victory,"  considered 
the  most  impressive  in  India.  It  is  necessary 
to  see  it  from  a  distance  to  get  an  idea  of 


AGRA,  INDIA. 

The  "Saman-burg." 

Detail   of  the   Carving  on  the   Exterior  of  the  Taj 

Mahal. 

Entrance  to  the  "Saman-burg." 

The  Pearl  Mosque. 


INDIA  87 

its  majestic  proportions  and  its  dignity  of 
location. 

Before  leaving  Agra  I  wanted  a  final  look 
at  the  Taj.  Taking  a  dirty  ferry  across  the 
Jumna  at  sunset,  the  view  of  the  Taj  with  its 
reflection  in  the  river  was  surpassingly  beauti- 
ful. 

A  little  way  up  the  river  I  noticed  a  light, 
and  asked  my  ferryman  by  gesticulation  to 
take  me  there.  As  I  suspected,  it  proved  to 
be  a  Hindu  burning  ghat,  with  two  pyres  burn- 
ing brightly.  One  of  them  was  nearly  burnt 
out,  but  the  other  was  only  partly  con- 
sumed, and  I  examined  it  very  closely.  A 
native,  in  perfect  English,  said: 

"  Haven't  you  ever  seen  a  dead  Hindu 
body?" 

Realizing  that  perhaps  I  had  seemed  dis- 
respectful, I  replied  that  I  had,  but  was  always 
interested,  and  asked  if  it  was  a  relative  of 
his.  He  replied  that  it  was  the  wife  of  his 
son,  a  boy  of  eighteen  standing  near.  I  asked 
if  there  had  been  any  children.     He  replied: 

"  No.  I  spent  eleven  hundred  rupees 
(about  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars)  on 
the  wedding  —  this  man  here  —  her  father  — 
he  spent  a  lot  of  money  too  —  and  —  no  re- 
sults." 

Imagine  standing  on  the  bank  of  the  Jumna, 
the  fairylike  Taj  seeming  to  float  in  the  gather- 
ing dusk,   its  image  duplicated  in  the  river. 


88      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

The  solemn  stillness  of  the  twilight  was 
broken  only  by  the  crackling  logs  of  the 
funeral  pyre,  burning  fiercely  with  its  human 
freight,  and  lighting  up  the  earnest  sober  faces 
of  these  Hindus;  and  you  have  a  picture  of 
my  farewell  to  Agra. 

The  royal  apartments  in  the  fort  at  Delhi 
are  second  only  to  those  of  Agra,  and  many 
consider  them  finer.  They  are  perhaps  a  little 
more  refined,  but  in  places  began  to  show  the 
decadence  of  the  style.  A  shallow  channel 
runs  the  entire  length  of  all  these  apartments. 
In  olden  days  water  used  to  run  through  this, 
to  keep  the  rooms  as  cool  as  possible. 

The  Jama  Mas j  id  is  the  largest  mosque  in 
India.  It  is  a  red  sandstone  building  with 
white  marble  trimmings,  and  is  flanked  by  two 
graceful  minarets.  It  has  three  domes,  also 
of  white  marble.  Before  the  mosque  is  a  large 
court  surrounded  by  an  arcade  —  mosque  and 
court  being  raised  on  a  high  platform  in  the 
midst  of  the  city,  with  imposing  flights  of 
steps  leading  to  them. 

The  Kutab  Minar  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful towers  of  victory  in  the  world.  In  design 
it  is  unique,  in  that  it  uses  vertical  flutings 
that  are  semi-circular  and  angular. 

There  are  many  historic  buildings  to  be 
seen  at  Delhi,  such  as  the  tomb  of  Humayun, 
which  served  later  as  the  model  for  the  Taj 
Mahal,  but  there  is  not  space  to  speak  of  them. 


DELHI,  INDIA. 

The   Kutab   Minar. 


INDIA  89 

No  trip  to  Delhi  is  complete,  however,  with- 
out a  visit  to  the  Ridge,  to  see  the  site  of  so 
many  of  the  events  of  the  Mutiny  of  1857. 

The  main  streets  of  Jaipur  are  very  wide, 
and  all  the  houses  are  painted  pink.  The 
street  scenes  are  fascinating  —  the  natives  in 
their  dresses  of  brilliant  reds,  browns  and  yel- 
lows. An  occasional  camel  or  elephant  is 
seen,  and  wild  peacocks  abound.  Often  you 
would  see  two  natives  holding  a  strip  of  newly 
dyed  red  cloth  many  yards  long,  waving  it 
back  and  forth  to  dry  it  more  quickly.  It  is 
certainly  a  city  of  much  color. 

Amber  is  a  ruined  and  deserted  city  five 
miles  from  Jaipur.  Part  of  the  trip  can  be 
made  on  elephant  back,  if  you  so  desire,  but 
it  is  not  particularly  to  be  desired.  The  situa- 
tion of  the  deserted  palace  on  the  side  of  the 
hill,  with  a  little  lake  at  its  base,  is  very  pic- 
turesque. The  rooms  of  the  palace,  while  by 
no  means  as  handsome  as  the  Mohammedan 
palaces  of  Agra  and  Delhi,  have  still  a  great 
deal  of  beauty,  and  much  that  is  original  in 
decoration. 

Another  night  journey  brought  us  to 
Abu  Road.  Having  neglected  to  telegraph 
ahead  for  tongas,  we  had  great  difficulty  in 
procuring  any.  While  waiting  I  went  to  the 
dining-room  and  asked  for  some  soft  boiled 
eggs.     The  servant  answered : 

"Fried  eggs?" 


90      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

"  No,  no.     Soft  boiled,  half  boiled." 

"Not  fried?" 

"No.    Boiled/' 

He  was  gone  at  least  five  minutes,  and 
then  returned,  saying:  — 

"  Sahib  have  fried  eggs  ?  " 

"  No,  no,  no.     I  want  boiled  eggs." 

"  No  have  boiled  eggs  —  cook  fried  'em." 

I  had  fried  eggs. 

The  tongas,  when  they  did  arrive  wTere 
hailed  with  joy.  But  the  long  eighteen-mile 
trip  up  the  mountain  to  Mount  Abu  was  to  be 
fraught  with  excitement.  The  man  in  charge 
of  the  tonga  line  had  been  in  charge  for  only 
ten  days,  and  the  horses  were  for  the  most 
part  unbroken.  As  we  got  higher  up  on  the 
hill,  with  a  steep  descent  on  the  side  of  the 
road,  one  of  the  horses  balked,  and  nearly 
succeeded  in  spilling  us  over  the  edge  of  the 
clifT.  Then  he  dashed  for  the  wall  on  the 
other  side.  The  driver,  fortunately,  was  ex- 
cellent, or  there  might  have  been  a  different 
story  to  tell.  At  the  next  relay  two  miles  fur- 
ther up  on  the  road  we  got  other  horses,  fully 
as  unbroken,  but  not  quite  so  demonstrative. 

Mount  Abu,  like  Darjeeling,  is  used  as  a 
summer  resort.  It  is  delightfully  situated,  and 
possesses  a  small  lake,  a  rarity  in  India.  But 
the  main  interest  here  is  centered  in  the  Dil- 
warra  temples.  These  were  built  by  the 
Jains    about    the    twelfth    century,    and    are 


INDIA  91 

among  the  oldest  temples  of  India.  The  Jains 
are  an  ancient  but  small  sect  of  the  Buddhists. 
The  temples  are  small,  and  wholly  unimpres- 
sive from  the  exterior.  But  on  the  inside 
almost  every  square  inch  of  the  surface  is 
carved,  and  it  is  to  the  minuteness,  delicacy, 
and  exquisiteness  of  these  carvings  that  the 
temples  owe  their  reputation.  They  are 
marvelously  beautiful,  and  stand  among  the 
most  artistic  buildings  of  India. 

Ahmedabad  had  many  beautiful  buildings, 
of  graceful  shape  and  delicate  carving, 
but  as  they  are  small  and  built  of  brown  stone 
they  are  by  no  means  as  impressive  as  many 
of  the  other  buildings  of  India.  The  city  was 
disgustingly  dirty,  and  we  tarried  no  longer 
than  necessary.  The  Sidi  Said  Mosque  has 
two  beautiful  perforated  windows.  They 
were  of  stone  —  not  of  marble,  and  though 
not  as  handsome  as  the  marble  ones  already 
seen,  for  pure  beauty  of  pattern  they  were  un- 
rivaled. A  drive  to  a  near-by  lake  was  of  in- 
terest, if  only  on  account  of  the  wild  monkeys. 
They  surrounded  the  carriage  —  really,  they 
are  much  preferable  behind  bars.  If  we  had 
needed  anything  to  complete  our  disgust  with 
Ahmedabad,  it  was  provided  by  a  visit  to  a 
Hindu  animal  hospital.  This  was  filthily 
dirty,  and  filled  with  deformed  and  diseased 
animals  of  every  kind.  A  crying  cat  in  a  tiny 
dirty  cage  called  our  attention  to  the  fact  that 


92      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

its  mate  in  the  same  cage  was  dead :  later  we 
discovered  a  dead  hen  in  another  small  cage, 
with  a  live  one.  The  keepers  of  the  gate  were 
rather  surprised  at  our  hasty  departure,  and 
greatly  grieved  at  the  size  of  our  baksheesh ! 
After  that  we  couldn't  quit  Ahmedabad  too 
quickly. 

Bombay  formed  a  great  contrast.  It  is  a 
beautiful  city,  with  many  large  and  imposing 
if  not  attractive  buildings.  Here  are  the  fa- 
mous Parsee  Towers  of  Silence.  The  Parsees 
are  descendants  of  the  ancient  Persian  immi- 
grants to  this  country.  They  are  in  advance 
of  the  people  of  India  in  intelligence  and  in- 
dustry, and  are  said  to  be  greatly  hated  by 
them.  They  do  not  believe  in  polluting  any 
of  the  elements  —  earth,  air,  water,  or  even 
fire  —  with  the  bodies  of  their  dead,  and  so 
have  devised  these  Towers  of  Silence.  There 
are  five  of  them,  the  largest  being  twenty-five 
feet  high  and  nearly  three  hundred  feet  in  cir- 
cumference. A  small  model  of  one  tower 
can  be  inspected,  for  no  one  but  certain 
priests  is  allowed  to  enter  the  towers  them- 
selves. The  interior  is  divided  into  three 
concentric  circles:  the  outside  one  for  the 
bodies  of  men,  the  middle  one  for  women,  and 
the  center  one  for  children.  The  body  is 
placed  here  by  the  priests,  and  in  a  short  time 
every  particle  of  flesh  is  torn  from  the  bones 
by  the  vultures,  that  are  always   sitting   on 


INDIA  93 

the  top  of  the  wall  —  more  forbidding  than 
Poe's  raven.  The  time  taken  to  strip  the 
bodies  is  variously  estimated  from  ten  minutes 
to  three  hours.  After  the  bones  are  dried 
they  are  thrown  in  a  well  in  the  center  of  the 
tower.  It  seems  horrible  at  first,  but  is  it  so 
much  more  revolting  than  our  own  method 
of  burial? 

From  Bombay  I  went  to  Bangalore  by  way 
of  Poona,  avoiding  Madras.  As  far  as 
Poona  the  scenery  was  by  far  the  prettiest 
that  I  saw  in  India.  But  the  rest  of  the  two- 
day  trip  was  tedious.  Bangalore  is  far  south, 
and  the  difference  between  the  people  here 
and  farther  north  was  very  marked.  In  fact 
no  two  of  the  native  cities  of  India  are  alike 
—  each  has  its  own  individuality.  There  was 
nothing  to  detain  me  at  Bangalore,  so  I  con- 
tinued to  Trichinopoly,  with  its  rock  and  its 
temple.  The  temple  was  on  much  the  same 
plan  as  the  one  at  Madura,  to  be  mentioned 
later.  The  rock  is  but  a  little  over  two  hun- 
dred feet  high,  but  the  plain  surrounding  it  is 
flat,  making  the  view  from  the  top  very  ex- 
tensive. 

The  temple  at  Tan j ore  is  slightly  different 
from  the  one  at  Madura,  though  modeled  on 
the  same  lines.  The  gopuram  here  is  high 
and. very  beautiful.  This  temple  is  remark- 
able for  its  thousands  of  linghams,  represent- 
ing Shiva,  and  I  was  fortunate  in  getting  a 


94      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

photograph  of  a  woman  praying  to  one  of 
them.  There  is  also  a  beautiful  little  shrine 
to  a  son  of  Shiva,  and  there  is  also  an  impos- 
ing statue  of  the  sacred  bull  of  Shiva.  As  I 
entered  a  boy  was  playing  "  My  Country  'tis 
of  Thee  "  on  a  flute  —  shrilly  and  haltingly. 
Germans,  English  and  Americans  compose 
practically  all  the  tourists  that  come  to  India ; 
and  this  is  a  national  tune  of  each  of  these 
nations ;  so  the  flutist  can  hardly  make  a  mis- 
take no  matter  who  approaches. 

The  enclosure  of  the  Great  Temple  at 
Madura  is  very  large,  over  eight  hundred  by 
seven  hundred  feet.  It  has  nine  gopurams. 
These  gopurams  are  pyramidal  towers  over 
gateways,  and  are  crowded  with  sculpture;  so 
crowded,  in  fact,  that  the  dignity  and  mass 
of  the  gopurams  themselves  are  lost  in  study- 
ing the  details.  But  in  the  moonlights  the  de- 
tails are  blotted  out,  and  then,  outlined  against 
the  sky,  they  are  amazing  and  impressive  bits 
of  architecture.  The  four  gopurams  on  the 
outside  walls  are  the  largest  —  the  highest  one 
is  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Nearly  all 
the  temple  grounds  are  open  to  inspection, 
except  the  sanctuary  itself.  There  are 
courts  and  walls,  temples  and  hallways  with- 
out number,  where  one  can  wander  for  hours. 
One  of  the  large  corridors  around  the  temple 
is  entirely  of  stone,  the  ceiling  being  supported 
by  elaborately  carved  brackets  resting  on  large 


TANJORE,  INDIA. 
Praying  to  a  Lingham. 


INDIA  95 


weird  horses,  lions,  and  men,  as  caryatides. 
One  portion  of  it  was  infested  with  bats. 
This  hall  was  large,  long  and  impressive,  but 
it  was  also  dingy,  smelly,  and  dirty. 

Near  one  of  the  buildings  I  spied  an  ele- 
phant. A  small  boy  —  he  could  not  have 
been  over  ten  —  took  him  in  charge,  and  it  was 
certainly  amusing  to  see  him  manage  that  huge 
beast.  He  would  strike  him  and  beat  him,  and 
push  him  out  of  the  way,  and  then  proceed 
to  clean  the  cage  with  his  bare  feet.  He  must 
have  been  the  son  of  the  keeper,  or  the 
elephant,  I  was  told,  would  not  have  taken  the 
treatment  so  good-naturedly. 

A  hall  near  the  temple,  called  Tirumala's 
Choultry,  had  numerous  natives  sitting  around 
on  the  floor,  sewing.  Most  of  them  were  us- 
ing little  hand  sewing  machines  —  I  counted 
over  a  hundred  of  them. 

In  the  evening  I  returned  to  the  temple 
again,  and  wandered  by  myself  through  those 
strange  halls.  In  the  distance  I  heard  the 
noise  of  music,  but  paid  no  attention  to  it  at 
first.  Then  I  heard  a  loud  shout,  and  knew 
that  some  ceremony  must  be  in  progress.  I 
hurried  toward  the  noise,  and  found  a  vast 
crowd  in  a  lofty  stone  hall,  lit  by  torches 
carried  by  tiny  naked  children.  In  the  center, 
surrounded  by  priests,  sat  statues  of  the  god 
and  goddess  on  the  back  of  silver  bulls.  They 
each  had  an  attendant  who  fanned  them  con- 


96      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

stantly.  A  band  was  marching  through  the 
hall,  followed  by  priests  carrying  great  red  and 
white  umbrella-like  canopies.  Finally  they 
stopped  in  front  of  the  statues,  and  as  they 
did  so  an  instantaneous  hush  came  over  the 
crowd.  Suddenly  came  a  weird  sound,  be- 
ginning as  a  kind  of  groan,  and  ending  as  a 
shout,  and  then  all  the  people  raised  their 
hands  above  their  heads,  and  many  of  them 
threw  themselves  upon  the  stone  floor.  It 
was  an   uncanny,   mysterious   sight. 

"  That's  all,"  came  a  matter-of-fact  voice  by 
my  ear.  The  spell  was  broken.  The  voice 
was  that  of  one  of  the  temple  guards.  But 
he  was  wrong ;  it  was  not  all.  The  procession 
formed  again,  the  gods  were  raised  from  their 
places  and  carried  —  much  as  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  must  have  been  carried  —  to  their 
place.  And  all  the  time  their  attendants  kept 
fanning  them.  The  lights  and  shadows  of  the 
flickering  torches,  the  weird  procession,  made 
up  one  of  the  most  unusual  sights  of  the  whole 
trip. 

As  I  emerged  through  one  of  the  gopurams, 
I  happened  on  another  procession  of  an  en- 
tirely different  character.  It  was  a  wedding 
party.  The  bride  and  groom,  gorgeously 
dressed  —  the  groom  far  more  gorgeously 
than  the  bride  —  sat  in  an  open  victoria,  with 
rows  of  candles  in  glass  shields  running  along 
each  side.     Four  natives  were  carrying  large 


MADURA,  INDIA. 

"The  Tank  of  the  Golden  Lilies.' 

COLOMBO,  CEYLON. 

A  Banyan  Tree. 


INDIA  97 


gas  lamps  with  portable  tanks,  and  they  cast 
a  strong  light  over  the  scene.  Before  the  car- 
riage was  the  musician,  and  behind  it  came 
the  wedding  guests  on  foot.  As  soon  as  I 
appeared  I  seemed  to  divide  attention  with 
the  bride  and  groom.  Not  wishing  to  set  up 
a  counter  attraction,  I  tried  to  lose  myself  by 
sitting  down  on  a  low  step.  But  to  no  pur- 
pose. I  was  immediately  surrounded  by  at 
least  fifty  peeping,  smiling  faces.  Seeing  that 
I  was  causing  more  curiosity  by  sitting  than  I 
did  while  standing,  I  rose  and  mingled  with 
the  crowd  again.  The  procession  would  move 
about  ten  feet,  and  then  stop,  and  wait  for 
ages  before  moving  again.  A  man  stepped  up 
to  me  and  said  "  Marriage."  A  boy  brought 
me  a  tray  bearing  some  leaves  and  nuts,  some 
white  powder,  and  a  bowl  of  brownish  liquid. 
Here  was  a  dilemma  for  which  I  was  entirely 
unprepared.  They  were  evidently  being  po- 
lite and  courteous,  and  were  treating  me 
as  a  wedding  guest.  I  was  evidently  expected 
to  do  something,  but  I  had  not  the  slightest 
idea  what  it  was.  I  did  not  want  to  be  dis- 
courteous —  I  did  want  to  be  appreciative. 
Just  at  this  critical  point  up  came  a  bright 
smiling  boy  who  spoke  excellent  English.  He 
said  I  was  to  dip  my  finger  in  the  liquid  and 
rub  it  on  my  hands,  then  take  some  of  the 
nuts,  dip  them  in  the  powder,  and  chew  them. 
With  fear  and  trembling  I  acquiesced.     The 


98      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

liquid  was  a  sandal  wood  ointment,  fragrant 
and  clean.  So  far,  so  good.  The  nuts  looked 
suspicious,  but  not  until  they  were  sprinkled 
with  the  powder  (said  to  have  been  lime) 
and  in  my  mouth  did  I  realize  what  they  were. 
Then,  although  I  had  never  tasted  them,  I 
knew  that  they  were  betel  nuts.  These  nuts 
are  chewed  by  the  natives  all  through  India 
and  in  many  other  countries,  to  make  their 
mouths  and  lips  red.  It  is  not  a  beautiful 
sight.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to  dispose  of  it 
secretly,  though  I  kept  up  the  appearance  of 
chewing.  Then  I  asked  the  boy  why  the  pro- 
cession moved  so  slowly.  He  answered: 
"  Because  of  the  musician.  He  is  the  best  one 
in  Madura."  And  he  insisted  that  I  should 
hear  him  play.  I  was  led  to  the  piper  at  the 
head  of  the  procession,  and  a  circle  was  imme- 
diately formed  around  us.  With  a  foreigner 
for  audience  the  piper  fairly  outdid  himself. 
He  postured  and  danced,  he  rolled  his  eyes  and 
puffed  his  cheeks  to  unthinkable  dimensions. 
You  can  imagine  my  feelings:  the  bride  and 
groom  sat  deserted  in  their  carriage,  looking 
extremely  glum ;  the  musician  making  hideous 
sounds:  the  crowd  interested  and  amused.  I 
knew  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  tip  him,  and 
in  giving  him  a  rupee  I  probably  paid  as  much 
or  more  than  did  those  who  hired  him. 
Finally  I  said  good  night  and  left  —  but  it  was 
useless  —  the  whole  procession  followed.     So 


INDIA  99 


I  had  to  stop  again,  and  this  time  make  my 
good-night  more  definite,  and  at  last  escaped. 
But  that  day  at  Madura  was  memorable. 

Before  taking  the  train  for  Tuticorin  the 
next  morning,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  visit 
the  palace  of  Tirumala  Nayak,  now  used  for 
public  offices.  Though  built  almost  at  the 
same  time  as  the  temples,  it  in  no  way  re- 
sembles them.  It  seems  like  a  much  more 
modern  building.  At  Tuticorin  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  a  small  tender  seven  miles  down 
the  bay  to  board  the  boat  for  Ceylon,  and 
the  trip  is  none  too  calm. 

I  had  been  over  five  weeks  in  India,  and  had 
seen  only  a  small  portion  of  it,  but  the  time 
had  come  to  depart.  I  left  it  with  much  re- 
gret —  it  is  a  fascinating  country. 


Chapter  IX 

CEYLON 

The  next  morning  the  boat  arrived  at 
Colombo.  It  is  not  an  impressive  port, 
though  it  is  one  of  the  busiest  in  the  world. 
Colombo  itself  is  a  straggling  town  of  little 
beauty.  Here  again  were  rickshaws,  and  it 
was  good  to  see  them,  for  these  little  vehicles 
are  very  convenient. 

Kandy  is  the  capital  of  Ceylon,  and  the  trip 
by  rail  from  Colombo  almost  rivals  those  of 
Java  in  beauty.     There  are  the  same  rice  ter- 
races and  the  same  vegetation,  and  as  the  train 
rises  higher  and  higher  you  have  similar  ex- 
tensive views  of  the  island.     Kandy  is  a  little 
mountain  town  around  the  edge  of  a  small 
but  very  pretty  artificial  lake,  with  exception- 
ally     lovely       surroundings.     The       famous  j 
"  Temple  of  the  Tooth  "  stands  on  the  edge 
of  the  lake,  and  is  a  pleasing  though  not  im- 1 
posing  building.     But  there  is  nothing  of  great  I 
beauty  in  it,  and  the  "  tooth  "  is  not  on  exhibi- 
tion.    The  original  tooth,   supposed   to  have] 
been    one   of    Buddha's,    was    burnt    by    the! 
Portuguese  in  1560,  and  shortly  after  a  new 
one,  said  to  be  over  two  inches  long,  was  made 
of  ivory. 

100 


CEYLON  101 


On  the  other  side  of  the  lake  is  a  Buddhist 
monastery.  This  I  visited  to  see  if  I  could 
purchase  one  of  the  costumes  of  the  monks. 
For  again  we  are  in  Buddhist  territory,  and 
the  yellow-robed  priests  are  seen  everywhere. 
They  received  me  hospitably,  secured  an  in- 
terpreter, and  I  told  them  what  I  wanted. 
They  asked  me  why  I  wished  it,  and  I  an- 
swered that  it  was  to  show  the  people  in 
America  how  the  Buddhist  monks  dressed. 
When  they  heard  that  they  said  they  would 
present  it  to  me  —  I  hardly  knew  whether  to 
accept  it  or  not,  but  finally  made  things  right 
by  leaving  an  offering  before  one  of  their 
gods.  The  skirt  is  simply  a  square  piece  of 
dark  yellow  cotton,  which  they  wrap  around 
their  waist.  The  other  garment  is  much 
larger,  and  is  draped  over  the  left  shoulder, 
leaving  the  right  shoulder  and  arm  bare.  As 
they  are  supposed  to  wear  rags  by  the  laws 
of  their  creed,  there  are  seams  in  this  cloth, 
but  in  reality  it  is  all  one  piece.  Later  I  wore 
this  at  a  fancy  dress  ball  on  the  "  Prinz 
Ludwig,"  and  a  German  asked  me  if  I  repre- 
sented Caesar. 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "lama  Buddhist  monk." 

"  Ah  —  ah  —  Brutus !  "  and  he  walked  away 
quite  satisfied. 

The  Peradeniya  Gardens  are  near  Kandy, 
and  rank  with  the  wonderful  botanical  gar- 
dens of  Buitenzorg,  in  Java.     Of  only  one  of 


102       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

the  interesting  things  there  can  mention  be 
made.  The  Assam  rubber  tree  has  what 
might  be  called  "  web-footed  roots  " —  roots 
that  leave  the  trunk  about  three  or  four  feet 
from  the  ground,  and  extend  in  all  directions 
in  inclined  wavy  lines  for  ten  to  twenty  feet, 
but  which  have  a  tissue  of  bark  connecting 
them  with  the  ground  the  whole  distance. 
The  gardens  are  infested  with  "  Flying 
Foxes  " —  large  bats  that  at  close  range  do  re- 
semble foxes.  They  do  considerable  damage, 
and  their  repulsive  appearance  does  not  lend  to 
the  beauty  of  the  gardens.  Efforts  are  being 
made  to  get  rid  of  them. 

The  deserted  and  almost  forgotten  city  of 
Anuradhapura  lies  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
island.  Made  the  capital  of  Ceylon  three  cen- 
turies before  Christ,  it  reached  its  highest  de- 
velopment about  the  time  of  Christ,  and  was 
finally  deserted  about  the  ninth  century.  It 
covers  an  enormous  amount  of  ground,  and 
extensive  ruins  abound  for  miles  around. 
The  most  imposing  of  the  ruins  are  the  old 
dagobas.  These  dagobas,  like  the  Shwa 
Dagon  Pagoda  at  Rangoon,  are  bell-shaped, 
and  are  erected  over  some  relic  of  Buddha  or 
one  of  his  disciples.  There  are  many  of  them 
throughout  Anuradhapura,  and  four  of  them 
are  of  huge  dimensions.  The  largest  is  the 
Abhayagiriya  —  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  about  two 


CEYLON  103 


hundred  and  sixty  feet  high.  The  structure  is 
solid,  and  made  entirely  of  brick,  the  enormous 
quantities  of  them  which  must  have  been  used 
is  inconceivable. 

Many  of  the  ruins  have  been  given  fanciful 
names,  which  have  probably  no  connection 
with  the  buildings  themselves.  The  "  Stone 
Canoe,"  for  instance,  is  a  huge  stone  trough 
which  is  said  to  have  been  filled  with  rice  at 
the  time  of  special  festivals,  for  the  poorer  pil- 
grims. The  "  Elephant  Stables  "  are  the  ruins 
of  a  palace  or  temple  of  some  kind  —  it  is  ex- 
tremely improbable  that  they  were  ever  used  as 
their  name  would  indicate.  Here  they  were 
excavating,  and  about  a  month  before  had  un- 
covered a  "  Guardian  Stone,"  one  of  the  stones 
set  up  at  each  side  of  the  entrance  to  a  temple. 
This  stone  was  regarded  as  quite  a  find,  as  it 
was  considerably  more  ornate  than  other 
stones  of  similar  character,  and  the  modeling 
of  the  figure  and  draperies  was  excellent. 
It  was  lying  on  the  ground,  and  was  partially 
filled  with  water ;  so  that  the  photograph  does 
not  do  it  full  justice.  While  examining  it  there 
was  some  excitement  among  the  workmen, 
and  I  heard  a  shrill  plaintive  cry.  They  had 
captured  a  young  and  very  small  deer. 

Nearly  all  these  ruins  lie  in  a  dense  forest, 
and  while  driving  through  it  one  encounters 
fragments  of  steps  and  balustrades  and  the 
foundations  of  innumerable   houses,   temples 


104       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

and  palaces.  The  "  Brazen  Palace "  is  a 
forest  of  square  stone  pillars.  There  are  six- 
teen hundred  of  them,  arranged  in  forty- 
parallel  rows.  These  formed  the  foundation 
of  a  nine-story  building  erected  about  one  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ. 

Mention  must  also  be  made  of  the  Sacred 
Bo-Tree,  supposed  to  be  a  branch  of  the 
original  Bo-Tree  at  Gaya  under  which  Buddha 
taught.  Some  claim  that  it  is  probably  the 
oldest  historical  tree  in  existence,  as  it  was 
planted  two  hundred  and  forty  years  before 
Christ,  with  records  to  prove  it. 

The  method  of  transportation  in  Anurad- 
hapura  is  not  ideal.  It  consists  of  springless 
carts  drawn  by  bullocks,  and  is  neither  com- 
fortable nor  rapid.  There  is  a  single  white 
pony  in  town,  but  do  not  be  disappointed  if 
you  do  not  get  him,  for  the  bullocks  are  just 
as  fast,  and  they  look  stronger.  While  here 
I  saw  several  birds  of  paradise,  but  left  them 
to  their  own  customs  rather  than  ours. 

It  takes  eleven  days  to  go  from  Colombo  to 
Port  Said.  The  "  Prinz  Ludwig"  was 
ladened  with  tourists,  and  so  many  of  them 
had  been  encountered  already  in  other  places 
that  when  we  all  got  aboard  it  seemed  like  one 
large  family.  Games  and  sports  were  insti- 
tuted immediately,  and  the  days  passed  all  too 
quickly.  One  evening  a  "  Bal  Blanc "  was 
held,  and  another  evening  the  fancy  dress  ball 


CEYLON  105 


already  alluded  to.  The  boat  stopped  a  few- 
hours  at  Aden,  but  not  long  enough  to  allow 
us  to  land. 

By  leaving  the  ship  at  Suez  instead  of  Port 
Said  I  gained  a  day  in  Cairo,  but  of  course 
missed  the  trip  through  the  canal.  I  was  not 
sorry  when  I  found  that  all  those  disembark- 
ing at  Port  Said  were  routed  out  of  their 
rooms  at  midnight  the  next  night,  to  ac- 
commodate oncoming  passengers. 


Chapter  X 

EGYPT 

Of  Egypt  so  much  has  been  written,  and  so 
many  people  have  visited  it,  that  little  of  it 
comes  under  the  head  of  the  unusual,  and 
it  would  be  out  of  place  to  give  it  more  than 
passing  mention  here. 

Cairo  is  a  fascinating  city  —  a  city  of 
mosque  and  minaret.  The  mosques  are  nu- 
merous, and  many  of  them  are  wonderful 
buildings,  with  imposing  interiors.  But  none 
is  quite  as  exquisite  as  some  of  the  marble 
ones  in  India.  The  pyramids  have  been  re- 
produced so  often  that  when  first  seen  they 
look  quite  like  old  friends.  The  ascent  was  by 
no  means  as  difficult  as  I  had  anticipated, 
though  it  was  not  easy.  The  passage  to  the 
interior  chambers  was  much  more  difficult,  as 
the  floors  were  slippery  and  some  of  the 
passages  were  very  low,  and  very  steep.  The 
Sphinx,  at  first  sight,  is  a  disappointment,  as 
it  seems  so  small  —  it  is  hard  to  believe  it  is 
seventy  feet  high.  But  as  one  becomes  more 
accustomed  to  it,  its  dignity,  its  unknown  age 
and  unknown  purpose,  cause  a  feeling  of  ven- 
eration for  it  that  probably  cannot  be  induced 
by  any  other  monument  on  earth.  Involun- 
106 


EGYPT  107 

tarily  you  follow  the  gaze  of  those  sightless 
eyes  which  seem  to  have  been  searching  the 
plain  for  the  last  fifty-five  centuries. 

On  the  "  Ludwig  "  I  had  joined  the  Keator 
family,  and  at  Cairo  they  were  joined  by  the 
two  Misses  Pierce  from  San  Francisco.  It  is 
only  after  having  traveled  alone  for  some 
time  that  one  appreciates  to  the  full  congenial 
companions. 

We  took  one  of  the  Nile  steamers,  and 
visited  the  temples  of  Denderah,  Luxor, 
Karnak,  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings  at  Thebes, 
and  many  other  of  the  magnificent  ruins  of 
ancient  Egypt,  on  our  way  up  the  Nile  to 
Assouan.  Undoubtedly  the  most  impressive 
building  was  the  hypostyle  hall  of  the  Temple 
of  Karnak,  with  the  marvelously  preserved 
sculptures  and  bas-reliefs  of  the  Tombs  of 
the  Kings  standing  second. 

The  dam  at  Assouan  is  a  magnificent  piece 
of  engineering,  second  only  to  the  Panama 
Canal.  By  it  the  waters  of  the  Nile  are  con- 
trolled so  as  to  increase  the  fertility  of  the 
country  greatly.  The  poor  little  island  of 
Philae,  formerly  one  of  the  beauty  spots  of 
Egypt,  is  almost  completely  submerged  by  the 
waters  of  the  lake  formed  by  the  dam.  Only 
the  tops  of  the  pylons  and  of  the  "  Bed  of 
Pharaoh  "  were  visible  —  all  the  rest  was  sub- 
merged. 

One  wonders  who  taught  the  natives  here 


108       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

"  Hip  —  hip  —  hurrah. "  Their  version  is  ac- 
cented slightly  differently,  and  sounds  not  un- 
like 

"HIP  — HIP  — who-ry 

HIP  — HIP  — who-ry 

HIP  — HIP  — who-ry 

Dank  you,  dank  you,  dank  you. 

Berry  good,  berry  nice." 

They  never  seem  to  vary  from  this  formula. 

At  Assouan  we  changed  to  another  boat, 
and  continued  on  to  Wadi-Halfa.  There  are 
numerous  small  temples  lining  the  bank  of  the 
Nile  in  this  part,  but  Abou-Simbel  alone  de- 
serves mention.  Though  it  prolongs  one's 
stay  in  Egypt  a  week  to  take  the  trip  from 
Assouan  to  Wadi-Halfa  and  back,  it  is  well 
worth  while  on  account  of  this  temple. 

Abou-Simbel  is  the  famous  rock-hewn  tem- 
ple of  Rameses  the  Great.  Every  part  of  it  is 
carved  from  the  solid  rock,  and  on  that  ac- 
count alone  would  be  interesting,  but  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  sculpture  is  so  marked,  and 
the  statues  so  impressive,  that  the  temple  ranks 
with  the  Sphinx  and  the  Pyramids  in  interest. 
Cut  in  the  wall  of  the  cliff  sit  four  gigantic 
statues  of  Rameses,  sixty-four  feet  high.  Be- 
tween the  two  central  figures  is  the  doorway 
to  the  temple.  This  first  leads  to  a  large 
chamber,  the  roof  of  which  is  supported  by 
eight  square  pillars,  with  statues  of  Osiris  in 


ABOU-SIMBEL,  EGYPT. 
The  Colossal   Statues  of  Rameses  the  Great. 

The   entire   temple  is  carved    from    the  solid   rock. 


EGYPT  109 

front  of  each,  all  carved  from  the  rock.  Be- 
yond this  lie  other  chambers,  and  on  the  end 
wall  of  the  final  one  are  the  seated  statues  of 
four  gods,  one  of  them  no  less  than  Rameses 
himself.  These  statues,  and  the  chambers 
leading  to  them,  face  directly  East,  and  though 
they  are  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  from 
the  entrance,  the  sun  shines  full  upon  them 
as  it  rises.  It  is  a  strange  sight  to  see  these 
figures,  which  in  the  dim  light  of  the  torches 
the  day  before  could  scarcely  be  distinguished, 
glowing  in  the  bright  light  of  the  rising  sun. 
One  cannot  help  wondering  of  their  thoughts, 
their  desires  —  but  there  they  sit,  solid,  im- 
movable, unscrutable. 

Returning  down  the  Nile  there  was  little 
excitement,  unless  being  stuck  in  the  mud  for 
twenty-eight  hours  might  be  so  considered. 
At  first  it  was  interesting,  but  it  soon  became 
monotonous. 

Cairo  reached  again,  our  last  night  there  was 
enlivened  by  a  confetti  carnival  at  Shepard's. 
The  garden  back  of  the  hotel  was  illuminated 
by  numerous  Japanese  lanterns,  one  tree  be- 
ing especially  beautiful  filled  with  great  glow- 
ing orange  lanterns.  Perhaps  this  was  doubly 
enjoyed,  for  it  was  like  a  breath  of  fresh  air 
after  having  prowled  for  so  long  among  the 
deserted  haunts  of  the  long-since  dead. 


Chapter  XI 

PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  difficulties  of 
landing  at  Jaffa.  If  there  is  the  slightest  wind 
blowing  the  sea  becomes  choppy;  so  much  so 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  into  the 
small  boats  that  bring  you  to  the  wharf. 
The  sailors  are  used  to  it,  though,  and  manage 
extremely  well  —  but  you  must  not  object  to 
being  treated  much  as  if  you  were  a  bag  of 
salt.  It  is  an  amusing  sight  to  see  the  pas- 
sengers being  placed  in  the  small  boats  —  it 
is,  at  least,  until  your  own  turn  comes. 

At  Jaffa  the  two  buildings  of  historical  in- 
terest are  the  houses  of  Simon  the  Tanner  and 
of  Dorcas.  And  right  here,  at  the  very  out- 
set of  your  trip,  you  come  face  to  face  with 
the  eternal  question  in  Palestine,  u  Are  these 
places  authentic  ? "  In  the  vast  number  of 
cases  —  almost  without  exception  —  there  is 
little  reason  to  believe  them  so.  At  first  this 
constant  doubt  —  or  actual  disbelief  —  pre- 
vents any  feeling  of  reverence  or  veneration. 
But  little  by  little  you  begin  to  realize  that 
you  are  in  Palestine,  that  the  towns  and  cities 
are  positively  identified,  and  that  if  this  par- 
ticular spot  is  not  the  one  it  is  said  to  be,  the 
no 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA         in 

actual  one  is  near  by,  and  would  probably  look 
much  the  same.  But  stronger  than  all  this, 
the  very  respect  and  devotion  bestowed  on 
these  shrines  by  innumerable  adoring  pil- 
grims for  generations  must  have  given  the 
spot  some  order  of  sanctity,  some  fragrance  of 
holiness,  no  matter  whether  it  be  the  actual 
place  or  not.  When  one  sees  a  poor  ragged 
pilgrim  who  has  perhaps  walked  for  miles  — 
his  clothing  unkempt,  his  feet  blistered  — 
kneel  at  one  of  these  shrines,  and  with  heaving 
bosom  and  tears  streaming  down  his  face  kiss 
ecstatically  some  sacred  stone,  you  realize  that 
he  has  gotten  something  that  you  in  your  dis- 
belief can  never  get  —  that  he  has  worshiped, 
whereas  you  have  criticised.  Surely  —  surely, 
you  are  on  holy  ground. 

But  at  first  you  have  to  find  comfort  in  the 
hills  —  the  eternal  hills.  They  may  have 
changed  a  little,  but  the  effect  is  the  same  as 
it  was  nineteen  hundred  years  ago.  The 
brooks  followed  the  same  course  —  the  vil- 
lages stood  on  the  same  ground. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  first  view  of 
Jerusalem  is  a  disappointing  one.  The  whole 
city  —  walls,  towers  and  buildings  —  looks  so 
new.  Many  of  the  buildings  are  new,  and 
they  are  the  largest  and  most  prominent  ones, 
but  even  in  the  old  walls  and  houses  the 
stone  has  retained  a  new  look  that  makes  it 
almost  impossible  to  realize  that  they  are  an- 


ii2       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

cient.  But  soon  you  become  accustomed  to 
this,  and  then  little  by  little  the  city  and  your 
preconceived  ideas  of  it  adjust  themselves. 

Jerusalem  is  a  city  of  steps,  of  arches,  and 
of  stairways.  In  every  nook  and  cranny  is 
some  unexpected  little  staircase  filling  in  a 
corner  or  clambering  joyously  to  an  upper 
story  with  apparently  no  regard  for  the  laws 
of  architecture.  Open  doorways  give  glimpses 
of  attractive  little  courtyards ;  stone  arches 
across  the  street  cast  dark  shadows  that  give 
brilliant  contrasts  of  light  and  shade.  The 
crowd  in  the  street  gives  every  variety  of 
dress  and  person  —  strong-faced  Arabs  —  ro- 
tund Turks  —  sleek  Armenians  —  stately  Be- 
douins —  and  Jews  of  every  kind. 

But  Jerusalem,  which  should  be  the  very 
holy  of  holies,  a  city  of  peace  and  love  and 
good-will,  has  become  a  very  hotbed  of 
fanaticism,  of  hate,  of  intrigue,  of  war.  And 
here  it  is  that  the  great  and  lasting  disap- 
pointment of  Jerusalem  comes  in.  Torn  by 
internal  quarrels,  each  sect  of  so-called  Chris- 
tians striving,  bickering,  fighting  and  rioting 
among  themselves,  it  makes  the  very  name 
Christian  a  by-word  and  a  stumbling  block, 
a  cruel  libel  and  an  unholy  joke.  The 
Mohammedan  stands  serene  and  aloof,  look- 
ing with  sarcastic  amusement  and  ill-concealed 
disgust  on  the  rivalries  of  the  "  Christians," 
and  sends  his  soldiers  to  keep  the  peace.     And 


JERUSALEM,  PALESTINE. 
A  Street   Scene. 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA         113 

for  this  Christ  died!  But  perhaps  even  mis- 
directed energy  is  better  than  absolute  apathy ! 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  has  a 
monopoly  of  nearly  all  the  historical  places 
in  Jerusalem.  It  contains  the  stone  of  anoint- 
ment, the  column  of  flagellation,  Calvary,  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  the  center  of  the  world,  the 
grave  of  Adam,  and  even  the  spot  from  which 
God  took  the  dust  to  make  Adam !  Architec- 
turally the  building  is  a  jumble,  though  parts 
of  it  are  truly  beautiful  —  but  the  inevitable 
tawdry  over-ornamentation  successfully  hides 
everything  artistic  about  the  building. 

After  these  meaningless  and  inartistic  dec- 
orations it  is  a  pleasure  —  and  a  pain  —  to  step 
inside  the  Dome  of  the  Rock.  This  Moham- 
medan building  is  usually  called  the  Mosque 
of  Omar,  but  it  is  not  a  mosque.  The  interior 
is  beautifully  and  tastefully  decorated,  and  the 
whole  building  has  that  atmosphere  of  holi- 
ness and  quiet  sanctity  one  would  like  to  see 
at  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  walls  are  covered 
with  beautiful  mosaics  —  the  floor  is  carpeted 
with  ancient  rugs.  The  rock  itself  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  scene  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Isaac,  and  is  as  much  revered  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans as  by  the  Jews  —  in  fact,  Jeru- 
salem ranks  next  to  Mecca  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Moslem. 

There  are  of  course  innumerable  other 
places  to  visit  in  Jerusalem,  but  space  cannot 


H4       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

be  given  to  them.  One  —  and  this  must  suf- 
fice—  was  the  Jew's  Wailing  Place.  It  is 
certainly  an  unusual  sight  to  see  the  Jews  here, 
praying  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  and  for 
the  restoration  of  the  temple.  Much  of  it 
is  formal,  but  once  in  a  while  you  see  a 
mourner  in  a  very  agony  of  grief  —  were  she 
mourning  for  her  own  son  her  grief  could 
not  be  more  real  and  acute.  When  you  real- 
ize that  she  is  weeping  over  the  destruction 
of  the  temple  thousands  of  years  ago  it  makes 
you  wonder  if  she  is  one  of  a  new  seven  thou- 
sand who  has  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal. 

On  Palm  Sunday  we  attended  an  early 
service  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
to  see  the  ceremony  of  the  blessing  of  the  palm 
by  the  Patriarch  of  the  Roman  Church.  The 
palms  were  blessed  in  the  Sepulchre  itself, 
and  then  distributed  by  the  Patriarch,  each 
recipient  kneeling  to  him  and  kissing  his  ring. 
All  through  the  service  the  Greek  Catholics 
in  another  part  of  the  building  kept  ringing 
a  bell,  to  disturb  the  Roman  service  as  much 
as  possible.  This  is  a  fair  example  of  the 
constant  petty  bickerings  between  the  sects. 

But  a  more  interesting  ceremony  was  held 
on  Good  Friday  night.  We  were  placed  on 
a  high  and  frail  balcony  which  was  soon  over- 
crowded, and  which  seemed  very  dangerous. 
It  overlooked  the  "  Stone  of  Unction  "  and 
enabled    us    to    see    all    the    ceremony.     The 


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PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA         115 

priests  brought  a  figure  of  Christ  nailed  to 
the  cross,  and  held  a  service  in  the  room  said 
to  have  been  the  site  of  Calvary.  Then  they 
brought  it  to  the  Stone  of  Unction,  where 
they  took  it  from  the  cross,  laid  it  on  the 
stone,  and  anointed  it.  Later  it  was  carried 
in  a  sheet  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

From  the  Mount  of  Olives  one  has  a 
splendid  view  of  Jerusalem  and  the  surround- 
ing country,  extending  on  the  other  side  to 
the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan.  The  Garden 
of  Gethsemane  is  now  under  the  care  of  the 
Franciscans,  and  has  a  spirit  of  quiet  and 
reverence  not  possessed  by  the  other  holy 
sites. 

Bethlehem  has  many  new  buildings  also. 
In  the  basement  of  the  Church  of  the  Nativ- 
ity lies  the  manger,  lighted  by  hundreds  of 
tiny  lamps.  These  are  kept  lighted  by  the 
various  sects,  and  each  one  takes  jealous  care 
of  their  portion  of  the  number. 

On  the  way  to  Jericho  we  stopped  at 
Bethany,  with  its  tomb  of  Lazarus,  and  at  the 
Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  The  guides 
solemnly  asserted  that  this  was  the  actual  Inn, 
ignoring  the  fact  that  the  story  itself  was  a 
parable.  Jericho  is  now  but  a  tiny  village  of 
mud  houses.  From  here  we  visited  the  Dead 
Sea  and  the  Jordan,  the  latter  at  the  supposed 
place  of  Christ's  baptism. 

On  Easter  Monday  morning  we  started  on 


n6       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

our  caravan  trip  through  Palestine.  There 
were  eight  of  us  —  the  Keator  party  of  five, 
the  two  Misses  Pierce,  and  myself.  But  our 
caravan  consisted  of  twenty  men,  including 
the  dragoman,  fifteen  horses,  nineteen  mules 
and  six  donkeys.  We  had  six  tents  —  four 
for  sleeping,  and  a  dining-room  and  kitchen. 
The  tents  were  large,  and  on  the  interior  were 
decorated  with  interesting  designs  of  bril- 
liantly colored  cloth  appliqued  on.  In  effect 
it  was  not  unlike  some  of  the  American  Indian 
color  work,  though  of  course  the  designs  were 
oriental. 

The  country  around  Jerusalem  is  unusually 
stony,  but  nevertheless  wild  flowers  are  abun- 
dant. The  Rose  of  Sharon  —  a  low  red 
poppy-like  flower  —  is  perhaps  the  most  strik- 
ing. In  one  small  patch  not  five  feet  square 
I  found  no  fewer  than  sixteen  different 
varieties  of  flowers. 

Our  course  led  us  by  many  of  the  places 
so  often  spoken  of  in  Jewish  history:  Shi- 
loh ;  Jacob's  Well ;  Mounts  Ebal  and  Gerizim ; 
Nabulus,  the  ancient  Shechem ;  Samaria ; 
Dothan ;  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon ;  Nazareth ; 
Cana ;  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

At  Samaria  our  camp  was  pitched  near  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  Roman  basilica  which 
crowned  the  hill.  The  remains  were  scanty, 
but  included  a  broad  flight  of  steps,  a  Roman 
altar,  and  the  foundation  walls  of  a  temple. 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA         117 

Dothan  is  the  reputed  site  of  the  pit  in  which 
Joseph  was  placed  by  his  brethren.  The  pit 
is  now  a  well,  and  though  restricted,  made  a 
very  acceptable  bathing  place.  Jenin,  north 
of  Dothan,  is  quite  a  large  village.  It  was 
interesting  to  see  the  sheep  and  cattle  being 
driven  home  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as 
they  have  been  for  ages.  Here  our  dragoman 
thought  it  necessary  to  have  an  armed  escort 
for  the  day,  for  the  feeling  against  the  Turks 
is  very  bitter,  and  the  natives  think  that  if 
they  could  make  trouble  for  some  foreigner 
it  might  mean  foreign  intervention,  with  pos- 
sibilities of  escaping  from  the  hated  yoke. 

The  journey  across  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon 
was  interesting.  On  our  right  were  the 
mountains  of  Gilboa,  where  Saul  and  his  sons 
were  slain,  and  the  village  of  Endor,  while 
ahead  of  us  rose  a  high  hill  with  the  village 
of  Nazareth  perched  almost  at  the  top.  At 
Nazareth  are  many  holy  places  —  the  most 
authentic  being  the  Virgin's  Well.  Our  camp 
was  pitched  in  an  olive  orchard,  and  we 
stayed  here  three  days. 

Then  we  continued  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
pitching  the  camp  just  below  Tiberias.  Gali- 
lee is  a  beautiful  lake,  with  high  mountains 
all  around  it.  Tiberias  is  a  dirty  city,  but 
has  interesting  and  picturesque  old  Roman 
walls.  We  took  a  boat  across  the  lake  to  the 
site  of   Capernaum,  but  rain   and  wind   de- 


n8       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

tracted  from  the  pleasure  of  the  sail.  All 
that  is  left  of  Capernaum  is  the  foundation  of 
the  synagogue,  and  even  this  has  not  been 
positively  identified. 

From  here  we  journeyed  on  in  the  rain  to 
El  Jauneh,  a  modern  settlement  of  returned 
Jews.  The  rain  continued  the  next  day,  and 
made  it  inadvisable  —  considering  the  condi- 
tion of  some  of  the  donkeys  —  to  proceed  on 
to  Damascus ;  so  we  returned  to  Tiberias  and 
took  the  train.  A  camping  trip  may  have 
its  difficulties,  but  it  certainly  was  one  of  the 
most  enjoyable  features  of  the  entire  world 
circle. 

While  waiting  in  our  tents  at  El  Jauneh 
for  the  rains  to  pass,  we  heard  uncouth  noises, 
and  shots  from  near  the  camp.  We  were 
told  it  was  a  Mohammedan  wedding,  and  lost 
no  time  in  reaching  it.  The  groom  was  on 
horse  back,  dressed  in  a  long  black  coat,  with 
a  flowing  purple  headdress.  In  front  of  him 
were  about  a  score  of  his  friends.  They 
formed  a  solid  line,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and 
were  dancing,  singing,  clapping  their  hands 
and  swaying  their  bodies  all  in  unison.  A 
leader  with  two  knives  danced  in  front  of 
them,  and  led  the  responses.  Behind  the 
groom  came  some  women  more  circumspectly, 
but  the  bride  was  conspicuous  by  her  absence. 
As  we  wished  to  see  her  we  left  the  procession 


DAMASCUS,  SYRIA. 
An    Old   Archway. 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA         119 

and  were  led  to  her  house.  The  courtyard 
was  dirty  and  muddy  in  the  extreme.  The 
house  was  made  of  wood  and  plaster,  and 
was  both  residence  and  stable  combined,  the 
division  between  the  two  being  simply  a  drop 
of  two  or  three  feet  in  the  floor.  The 
furnishings  were  an  old  table  and  chair,  a 
broken  mirror  and  a  candle.  The  bride  was 
dressed  in  brilliant  magenta,  her  face  covered. 
For  a  fee  she  deigned  to  show  it.  I  don't 
know  what  the  fee  was,  but  it  wasn't  worth 
it.  We  then  returned  to  the  groom's  party 
and  watched  the  dancing.  The  piper  piped 
continuously,  and  by  some  means  kept  his 
cheeks  inflated  to  the  full  all  the  time. 

Damascus  is  a  fascinating  city.  The  num- 
ber of  its  imposing  buildings  is  limited  to  a 
few  mosques  —  the  main  interest  centering  in 
the  street  life.  Many  of  the  more  important 
streets  are  roofed,  like  the  "  Street  called 
Straight."  I  had  always  understood  that  this 
street  was  extremely  winding  —  but  on  the 
contrary  it  is  for  a  good  part  of  its  length 
absolutely  straight  and  quite  broad.  The 
streets  are  lined  with  little  shops,  displaying 
almost  every  conceivable  kind  of  merchandise. 
Silks  and  satins,  gold  and  silver  work,  saddles, 
copper,  tobacco,  brass,  second-hand  clothes, 
steel,  arms,  books,  fruits  and  vegetables,  are 
only  a  few  of  the  things  to  be  seen.     Though 


120       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

spoken  of  only  in  this  short  paragraph, 
Damascus  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  Oriental  cities  visited. 

Baalbek  was  a  revelation.  The  remains  of 
the  old  temples  here  are  magnificent.  They 
show  a  very  late  and  often  degenerate  develop- 
ment of  Roman  architecture,  but  are  never- 
theless very  beautiful,  both  in  mass  and  de- 
tail. Of  the  enormous  temple  of  Jupiter  but 
six  huge  columns,  with  a  bit  of  the  entabla- 
ture, remain  intact.  The  temple  of  Bacchus 
is  smaller  and  much  better  preserved.  The 
details  of  these  buildings,  though  flamboyant 
in  the  extreme,  are  beautifully  carved. 

As  the  train  descends  to  Bey  rout  a  mag- 
nificent view  is  obtained  of  the  harbor,  with 
its  surrounding  mountains.  Beyrout  itself 
was  by  comparison  with  Damascus  uninterest- 
ing, but  it  was  with  real  regret  that  we  had 
to  leave  it  and  the  domains  of  Turkey  in 
Asia. 


Chapter  XII 

CONSTANTINOPLE  AND  GREECE 

It  was  not  without  foreboding  that  we  went 
to  Constantinople,  for  the  Balkan  War  was 
in  full  progress,  and  the  country  in  a  great 
state  of  unrest.  But  finally  we  decided  to 
take  the  risk  —  though  after  we  left  Constan- 
tinople we  wondered  if  there  had  been  any 
risk  at  all. 

Before  reaching  Smyrna  the  boat  en- 
countered a  terrible  storm.  The  wind  was 
blowing  at  ninety  miles  an  hour,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  the  little  boat  could  hardly  weather  it. 
It  was  not  a  consolation  to  be  told  that  this 
was  "  its  last  trip,  anyhow." 

A  short  stop  at  Smyrna,  and  we  continued 
on  to  Constantinople,  passing  through  the 
Dardanelles.  On  the  way  we  passed  several 
Turkish  gun-boats,  which  with  the  numerous 
soldiers  in  Constantinople  were  about  the  only 
reminders  of  the  war  that  we  saw  in  Turkey. 
Both  at  Beyrout  and  Smyrna  American  men- 
of-war  were  stationed. 

Constantinople  has  often  been  called  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  cities  of  the  world.  Its 
location  at  the  junction  of  the  Golden  Horn 
and  the  Bosphorus,  is  wonderful.     And  the 

121 


122       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

city  itself  with  its  myriad  domes  and  minarets 
presents  an  outline  to  the  sky  that  cannot  be 
equaled. 

The  mosques  of  Constantinople  are  as 
marvelous  as  they  are  numerous.  The  oldest 
and  most  important,  historically,  artistically, 
and  architecturally,  is  the  Hagia  Sophia,  or 
Church  of  the  Divine  Wisdom,  usually  called 
Santa  Sophia,  though  there  was  no  saint  of 
that  name.  The  proportions  and  details  of 
the  interior  are  magnificent,  but  its  unusual 
dimensions  are  hard  to  realize.  Much  of  the 
interior  is  of  dark  gray  stone,  dingy  and  dusty, 
and  the  effect  is  also  spoiled  by  great  Turkish 
inscriptions;  so  that  it  is  a  disappointment  to 
many.  Nearly  all  of  the  mosques  have  used 
this  building  as  a  model,  only  differing  from 
it  in  minor  details.  One  of  the  mosques  is 
lined  for  nearly  its  entire  height  with  blue 
tiles,  giving  a  pleasing  effect,  even  though 
it  is  slightly  reminiscent  of  a  bath-room. 

Another  thing  of  exceptional  beauty  is 
found  in  the  museum.  It  is  called  the  sarcoph- 
agus of  Alexander,  although  it  was  intended 
for  one  of  Alexander's  friends,  not  for  him- 
self. The  reliefs  on  the  exterior  are  ex- 
quisite specimens  of  Greek  art.  One  side  de- 
picts a  hunting  scene,  and  has  a  portrait  of 
Alexander  on  horseback,  from  which  it  gets 
its  name. 

On  Friday,  the  Mohammedan  sabbath,  we 


CONSTANTINOPLE  —  GREECE      123 

went  to  the  "  Selamlik,"  to  see  the  Sultan, 
Mohammed  V,  on  his  way  to  the  mosque  to 
pray.  There  were  many  soldiers  in  the  court- 
yard through  which  the  Sultan  drove  directly 
to  the  mosque,  but  otherwise  there  was  little 
formality. 

One  of  the  most  curious  and  unusual  sights 
of  the  whole  trip  was  found  here  in  Constan- 
tinople, in  the  Dancing  Dervishes.  These  are 
a  religious  sect,  and  express  their  devotion  by 
strange  dancing.  The  room  was  high,  with 
a  round  platform  in  the  center.  Opposite  the 
entrance  sat  the  priest.  On  the  floor  were 
perhaps  fifteen  devotees,  most  of  them  dressed 
in  white,  though  two  were  in  green.  Their 
costume  consisted  of  a  fez,  a  loose  jacket, 
and  a  very  full  skirt,  with  baggy  trousers 
underneath.  Their  feet  were  bare.  Each  in 
turn  would  bow  to  the  priest,  and  then  begin 
whirling  around  in  one  spot,  until  all  were 
whirling  in  various  parts  of  the  room.  They 
held  their  arms  out,  with  their  heads  thrown 
to  one  side,  and  as  they  kept  turning  and  turn- 
ing their  skirts  would  flare  wide.  Their  faces 
assumed  an  absorbed  far-away  expression,  per- 
haps meant  to  be  ecstatic  but  really  looking  de- 
cidedly sleepy. 

The  boat  we  took  from  Constantinople  to 
Piraeus,  the  port  of  Athens,  was  Russian,  by 
the  euphonious  name  of  "  Tchikhatchoff"  It 
stopped  a  day  in  Smyrna,  and  allowed  us  a 


124       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

little  time  to  see  it.  We  drove  through 
various  parts  of  the  town,  and  through  the 
bazaars,  and  also  went  aboard  the  "  Tennes- 
see/' which  had  been  stationed  there  for 
some  months.  There  were  many  reminders 
of  home  on  board,  but  the  most  unexpected 
one,  and  therefore  the  one  that  gave  us  that 
homesick  feeling,  was  just  a  plain  U.  S.  mail 
box  —  it  was  one  of  the  best-looking  things 
seen  on  the  trip ! 

Athens  is  another  city  that  has  been  so 
often  described  as  to  need  only  a  passing 
word  here.  The  Acropolis  comes  up  to  every 
expectation  —  it  is  magnificent.  The  marble 
is  of  beautiful  color,  and  the  buildings  are  so 
perfect  that  one  is  lost  in  a  maze  of  specula- 
tion as  to  their  real  appearance  in  ancient 
times.  Why  is  it  that  all  restorations  look 
heavy,  solid,  and  distinctly  out  of  the  Greek 
spirit?  Does  the  mere  addition  of  a  roof  to 
the  Parthenon,  for  instance,  so  change  its 
appearance  that  we  cannot  accept  it  as  pre- 
sented? In  any  case,  we  can  depend  that  in 
the  olden  days  they  were  far  more  beautiful, 
more  wonderful.  Greek  taste  was  faultless, 
and  we  must  put  our  faith  in  that,  and  let  our 
modern  scientific  artists  go  on  drawing  their 
stumpy  Acropolises. 

The  Parthenon  is  small,  compared  to  many 
other  ancient  temples.  The  Propylaea  is  being 
carefully  restored,  the  stones,  if  perfect,  being 


ATHENS,  GREECE. 
In  the  Colonnade  of  the  Parthenon. 


CONSTANTINOPLE  —  GREECE      125 

again  placed  in  position,  and  if  imperfect  they 
are  replaced  by  correct  copies.  Perhaps  some 
day  England  will  want  to  give  back  the  Elgin 
marbles  to  be  placed  in  their  old  position: 
the  Greeks  still  feel  their  loss  —  they  call  it 
by  another  name  —  keenly.  In  the  small 
Acropolis  Museum  are  many  relics,  all  of 
which  were  found  on  the  Acropolis.  Perhaps 
the  most  exquisite  thing  it  contains  is  the 
small  bas-relief  of  Nike  fastening  her  sandal, 
from  the  balustrade  of  the  temple  of  Nike 
Apteros.  The  exquisite  delicacy  of  the 
molding  of  the  body  as  seen  through  the 
draperies,  and  the  grace  of  the  draperies  them- 
selves, makes  this  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sculptures  left  to  us  from  antiquity. 

There  are  many  other  interesting  monu- 
ments to  be  seen  in  Athens,  of  course.  The 
modern  Stadion,  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
one,  and  using  some  of  its  stones,  is  well 
worth  a  visit.  One  day  we  motored  to  Tatoi, 
the  summer  residence  of  the  late  King 
George.  If  any  arguments  are  needed  to 
make  you  glad  you  are  not  a  king,  surely  a 
visit  to  almost  any  of  the  European  royal 
palaces  would  furnish  it!  The  tomb  of  the 
recently  assassinated  king  was  near  by.  The 
coffin  lay  on  the  ground,  covered  only  with 
evergreens  and  flowers  —  a  suitable  memorial 
is  to  be  built  later.  On  returning  we  stopped 
to   see  the  prisoners   of   war  of   high   rank. 


126      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

They  were  lodged  in  what  used  to  be  a  hotel, 
and  were  allowed  a  great  deal  of  freedom. 

While  at  Athens  news  came  that  Scutari 
had  fallen,  which  caused  quite  a  demonstra- 
tion in  the  streets. 

The  Greek  Easter  fell  a  month  after  the 
Roman  one,  and  we  were  fortunate  enough 
to  be  in  Athens  at  the  time.  Through  a 
friend  we  secured  a  balcony  facing  the  cathe- 
dral —  an  ugly  romanesque  one  —  to  witness 
the  service  held  on  the  night  before  Easter. 
From  this  balcony  we  could  see  every  part 
of  the  square.  In  the  center  a  large  stand  had 
been  erected  for  the  dignitaries.  The  king 
usually  attends  this  service,  but  on  account  of 
the  recent  death  of  his  father  he  did  not  ap- 
pear. Around  the  platform  stood  two  rows 
of  soldiers,  and  back  of  them  the  whole  square 
was  filled  with  people.  Exactly  at  midnight 
the  bells  began  ringing,  and  the  high  priest 
appeared,  clad  in  elaborately  embroidered 
robes,  and  the  service  began.  The  "  Holy 
Fire  "  was  distributed  to  the  crowds.  Each 
person  had  a  candle,  and  when  these  were  lit 
the  whole  square  was  filled  with  their  soft 
light,  and  the  effect  was  marvelously  beauti- 
ful. It  was  a  veritable  glimpse  of  fairyland. 
The  voice  of  the  intoning  priest,  the  responses 
of  the  choir,  the  mighty  boom  of  near-by  can- 
non, sudden  flashes  of  red  and  white  lights, 
the  clanging  of  the  bells,  and  the  soft  light  of 


CONSTANTINOPLE  —  GREECE      127 

the  thousands  of  candles,  made  a  memorable 
mental  picture. 

On  our  way  to  Patras  we  stopped  at  the 
ruins  of  Corinth.  About  all  there  is  to  be 
seen  are  the  three  columns  of  one  of  the  old 
temples,  and  the  medieval-looking  ruins  of 
Aero-Corinth  on  the  hill  behind. 

The  boat  for  Italy  stopped  a  few  hours  at 
Corfu,  enabling  us  to  visit  the  "  Achilleion," 
built  for  the  late  Empress  of  Austria,  and 
now  owned  by  the  Kaiser.  The  palace  was 
disappointing,  but  the  gardens  were  magnif- 
icent—  a  wonderful  mass  of  color. 


Chapter  XIII    . 

ITALY  AND  SICILY 

Four  o'clock  in  the  morning  is  not  a  happy 
hour  to  embark  from  a  vessel  and  go  through 
the  customs,  but  so  it  happened  at  Brindisi. 
The  train  ride  to  Naples  consumed  the  rest 
of  the  day.  Distances  may  not  be  great 
abroad,  but  it  often  takes  a  long  time  to  travel 
over  them. 

Who  is  it  that  having  once  visited  Naples 
and  its  environs  does  not  long  to  return? 
Two  years  before  I  had  been  there,  and  my 
anticipation  of  seeing  it  again  was  keen. 
Surely  nowhere  in  the  world  are  so  many 
beauty  spots  nestled  away  in  such  close  prox- 
imity to  each  other. 

After  a  short  visit  in  Naples,  where  I  had 
to  bid  my  traveling  companions  farewell,  I 
visited  Capri  and  its  blue  grotto,  Sorrento, 
Amalfi,  Ravello,  Cava  and  Paestum.  Volumes 
could  be  written  on  each  of  these  places. 

Everybody  knows  the  marvelously  beauti- 
ful drive  from  Sorrento  to  Amalfi.  But  it  is 
not  of  the  drive,  but  of  the  driver,  that  I  am 
going  to  speak.  He  proved  so  amusing  that 
I  asked  him  to  share  the  seat  with  me,  so 
that  I  could  the  better  hear  his  stories.  He 
128 


ITALY  AND  SICILY  129 

had  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  an  inimitable 
chuckle,  that  was  in  itself  an  irresistible  in- 
vitation to  laughter.  He  was  about  twenty- 
two;  his  name  I  have  forgotten,  but  he  angli- 
cized it  by  "  Chimmy."  He  had  been  in 
America  for  several  years,  and  had  returned 
to  be  a  "  sodj  M  in  the  Italian-Turkish  war. 
Here  is  one  of  his  stories,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible in  his  own  words  :  — 

"  What  you  call  dis  to  de  hat  —  yes,  de 
brim.  When  I  go  to  New  York  I  have  big 
panama  de  Sorrent' — wid  great  big  brim. 
De  style  in  Amenc'  dat  year  was  for  ver' 
small  brim,  ver'  small  brim.  I  go  to  a  place, 
an'  dere  were  t'ree  girls  at  de  next  table. 
One  of  de  girls  she  say  to  me :  — '  Oh,  look 
at  de  f  ell'  wid  de  hat  like  de  umberell !  Wat 
you  t'ink,  it's  going  for  to  rain  ?  '  " 

But  perhaps  his  masterpiece  was  the  story 
of  "  Marie."  He  looked  at  me  fixedly  for  a 
minute,  then  said :  — 

"  Not  much  peep'  in  Americ'  wear  mus- 
tache, do  dey?  Well,  when  I  go  to  Amenc' 
I  have  big  mustache,  oh,  great  big  mustache. 
I  go  to  work  at  grocery  store  on  Broadway, 
'tween  hundred  an'  nint'  an'  hundred  an' 
tent'  street.  Every  day  I  go  to  big  house,  to 
get  de  order.  Oh,  ver'  rich  peep' — dey  give 
me  fift'  cent  every  day  —  ver'  rich  peep'. 
They  have  great  big  Irish  cooking  girl,  you 
know,    great    big    Irish    cooking    girl.     Her 


130       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

name  —  her  name  Marie.  I  no  speak  to 
Marie  de  first  day,  but  after  a  while  we  speak, 
and  one  day  I  say  to  her  —  jes'  for  to  fool  — 
I  say  to  her  —  jes'  for  to  fool — 'Marie,  I 
want  you  to  marry  me.'  She  say,  '  Oh,  no, 
Chimmy,  you  Italian  man,  you  no  can  be 
trusted/  So  I  t'ink  no  more  about  it.  But 
two  free  day  later  she  say  to  me,  '  Chimmy, 
you  must  take  off  dat  mustache/  '  For  why 
must  I  take  off  my  mustache,'  I  say.  She 
say,  l  Well,  if  you  want  to  be  my  sweetheart, 
you  must  take  off  dat  mustache/  '  But/ 
I  say,  '  if  I  take  off  my  mustache,  I  have  a  lot 
of  odder  mustache,  I  have  to  take  off  de 
mustache  all  de  time ! '  '  Oh,  no/  she  say, 
"  I  t'ink  you  have  only  one  mustache/  So  I 
tell  her  '  to-morrow,  to-morrow/  but  I  never 
take  it  off!  One  day  de  mistress  she  say  to 
me,  '  What  does  Marie  say  to  you  all  de 
time  ? '  I  say  to  her,  '  Marie  say  I  must  take 
off  my  mustache,  so  I  can  be  her  sweetheart 
—  but  I  rather  lose  my  Marie  than  lose  my 
mustache,  by  Jesu ! ' 

"  Den  I  have  to  come  back  to  \t\  to  be 
a  sodj.  I  no  tell  Marie!  I  go  down  and 
get  my  ticket  for  de  boat  goin'  de  next  day, 
den  I  go  up  and  see  Marie.  '  Goo-by,  Marie ' 
I  say,  i  I  see  you  to-morrow '  and  all  de  time 
I  have  de  ticket  in  de  pocket!  I  no  tell  her  I 
go  back  to  It':  perhaps  she  take  me  to  police 
court  —  dey  do  dat  in  Americ'  !  " 


MESSINA,  SICILY. 

'Death" — a    Fallen    Sculpture    in   the    Ruins    of    the 

Cathedral. 


ITALY  AND  SICILY  131 

Just  one  more.  I  asked  him  to  take  me  to 
the  Cappuchin  Hotel  at  Amalfi.  Evidently  his 
religion  has  departed,  for  he  said : 

"  Monks !  Monks  and  priests  bad  men. 
They  say  to  rich  woman,  '  You  leave  me  your 
money,  and  you  go  to  Paradiso  —  you  go  no 
other  place.'  She  leave  them  money,  they  eat, 
get  fat,  have  good  time,  and  she  no  go  to 
Paradiso  —  for  when  person  die  —  dat  damn 
end  —  w'at  you  t'ink?" 

Ravello  is  lovely.  Back  of  Amalfi,  and 
much  higher  than  it,  it  commands  a  more  ex- 
tensive view.  The  quaint  houses  and  gardens 
here  are  fascinating,  and  the  whole  place  is 
almost  ideal. 

From  Paestum  with  its  imposing  ruins  I 
went  direct  to  Sicily  by  train.  Messina  has 
been  little  restored  —  one  would  almost  think 
the  earthquake  had  happened  the  day  before. 
Much  of  the  rubbish  has  been  cleared  away, 
but  few  of  the  houses  have  been  rebuilt.  The 
loss  of  life  was  frightful,  about  one  hundred 
thousand  people  —  some  say  more.  My  guide 
said  he  had  lost  sixteen  of  his  own  family, 
including  parents,  wife,  children,  and  the 
family  of  his  sister.  Many  of  the  buildings 
and  monuments  of  the  Campo  Santo  were 
injured,  and  one  can  hardly  walk  there  with- 
out stumbling  every  minute  on  the  grave  of 
some  victim  of  the  disaster. 

Another    beauty    spot    of    Italy    is    Taor- 


132       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  UNUSUAL 

mina.  Tired  with  travel,  it  was  a  pleasure  to 
rest  here  for  a  few  days,  even  if  some  of  the 
sights  of  Sicily  had  to  be  lost  thereby.  A  lit- 
tle room  —  the  only  one  on  the  top  floor  of 
the  tiny  Hotel  Belvidere,  had  a  large  balcony 
and  an  extensive  view  of  the  bay,  with  Etna 
in  the  background.  By  moonlight  it  was 
glorious. 

Palermo  was  a  delightful  city,  full  of  life 
and  color.  The  wild  flowers  in  and  around 
the  town  are  especially  beautiful.  The  three 
architectural  glories  of  Palermo  are  the  Cathe- 
dral, the  Capella  Palatina,  and  the  Cathedral 
of  Monreale.  This  latter  is  large  and  spa- 
cious, with  two  rows  of  towering  columns. 
Every  inch  of  wall  space  above  the  columns 
and  the  high  marble  wainscot  is  covered  with 
mosaic.  The  groundwork  is  gold,  and  the 
figures  are  in  brilliant  colors.  These,  with 
the  white  marble  of  the  floor  and  wainscot, 
make  a  color  scheme  of  matchless  beauty. 

The  Capella  Palatina  is  a  little  chapel  in 
the  Palace,  built  in  1132.  It  is  a  tiny  room, 
a  replica  in  miniature  of  Monreale.  The 
mosaics  are  even  more  beautiful  than  those 
of  Monreale,  and  the  color  effects  —  well,  you 
feel  as  if  you  had  penetrated  into  the  heart 
of  a  diamond. 

And  here  my  trip  was  ended,  save  for  the 
voyage  home. 

If  there  had  been  any  tendency  on  my  part 


ITALY  AND  SICILY  133 

—  and  I  was  conscious  of  none  —  to  feel 
slightly  better  and  more  superior  than  other 
folk  on  this  mundane  sphere  in  consequence 
of  having  girdled  it,  it  was  effectually  stopped 
when  I  boarded  the  "  Konig  Albert."  I  had 
crossed  on  her  once  before  and  had  met  Cap- 
tain Feyen  then.  He  asked  me  where  I  had 
been,  and  naturally  I  replied  that  I  was  just 
completing  a  trip  around  the  world.  His  only 
comment  was : 

"  My,  aren't  you  dizzy  ?  " 


THE  END 


ITINERARY. 

As  a  guide  to  anyone  contemplating  a  trip  similar 
to  the  one  herein  described,  I  append  my  itinerary. 
It  is  by  no  means  an  ideal  one,  as  unsympathetic 
steamers,  weather  conditions,  and  other  considera- 
tions often  determine  the  length  of  stay,  rather 
than  personal  inclination. 


134 


1 912 

May  23 Left  New  York. 

May  23- June  24.  .Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Chicago, 
Denver,  Colorado  Springs,  Al- 
buquerque. 

June  25 Acoma. 

June  26 The   Petrified   Forests. 

June  27-30 Grand  Canyon. 

July   1-26 California. 

July  26- Aug.   1 . . .  " Korea" 

Aug.  1-9 Hawaiian  Islands. 

Aug.  9-19 H  Shiny 0  Maru" 

Aug.  19-Sept.  19.  Japan. 

Sept.   20-22 Korea. 

Sept.   22-24 Manchuria. 

Sept.   25-30 Peking  and  Environs. 

Oct.     2,-11 Hankow,  Nanking  and  Shanghai 

Oct.    14-22 Hong   Kong   and    Environs. 

Oct.  25-Nov.  5 Manila. 

Nov.     8-13 Hong  Kong. 

Nov.  17-21 Singapore. 

Nov.  23-30 Java. 

Dec.  2-5 Singapore. 

Dec.   7 Penang. 

Dec.    10-12 Rangoon. 

1913 

Dec.  14- Jan.  16.  ..Northern  India. 

Jan.  16-Jan.  22 Southern  India. 

Jan.  23-Feb.  2...   Ceylon. 

Feb.  2-12 "  Prinz  Ludwig." 

Feb.   12-Mar.   12..  Egypt. 

Mar.   13-24 Jerusalem  and  Environs. 

Mar.  24- Apr.  5 . . .  Camping  Trip  through  Palestine. 

Apr.   5-12 Damascus,  Baalbek,  Beyrout. 

Apr.    17-20 Constantinople. 

Apr.   23-28 Athens  and  Environs. 

Apr.  29 Corfu. 

Apr.  30-May  10.  ..Naples  and  Environs. 

May   11-19 Sicily. 

May   19-31 "  Konig   A Ibert" 

May  31 Arrived  New  York. 

135 


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An   exhaustive   study,   both   synthetical   and   analytical,    with 
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ART  IN  SHORT  STORY  NARRATION 

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